Thursday-3:45am

Karma would say hi but she couldn't stay awake--hehe!

I've been keeping odd hours--thus making it difficult for her to get her 10,000 winks. ;)

****

I have carefully been working on cards for short sessions. Cut the 60 sheets of white cardstock in half for the 120 card bases. Then started in on scoring them, but only got this far.

Dagan and Leah had a meeting on Tuesday night and it ran late, so they never made it over. Dagan wasn't feeling very good, so I didn't expect him Wednesday. Leah and I decided to just work on cards then.

****

Meanwhile, I got a surprise in the mail from Spruce/John in Labrador, Canada. This is a copy of one of his latest paintings. My photo doesn't quite show the depth of the sea scape--the ocean, rocky land out in the water, and the jagged shore under the stormy sky. John has developed his own personal painting style over the years and this is what fall looks like in Nain. :)

And I had to chuckle when I read in his letter about the bracelet he had enclosed. He called it my "movie night" bracelet. (He knows I watch movies to get lost and ignore the pain--hehe!)

John said the black beads were for the night, the crystals were for Hollywood, and the green was for relaxation. Absolutely warms my heart and makes me smile! :):)

I have to say thank you to John even if he is off the internet these days. We write letters now--snailmail. :)

****

I finally finished World Without End! Was almost as good as the first one--Pillars of The Earth. And that is saying something. ;)

****

Wednesday night Dagan did come over after all for a while, but he left early. He worked on the McLap for me. I had some questions about the new Windows7 system. Dagan had to install some stuff from the CD that came with the laptop to make it more compatible with Windows, I guess. (First, I had to find the software that came with the McLap--hehe!)

****

Leah baked us up a couple of frozen pizzas I've never tried before. One was garlic, spinach & mushroom and the other was tomato & basil. Both were good! I'd definitely buy either one of them again. We watched The End--an old dark comedy with Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Joanne Woodward, and Dom DeLuise. Leah helped me with setting some tabs on the desk computer and such.

****

Dagan left for home. Leah and I watched about half of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson on Instant Netflix. We'll finish up next time she's here. She'd never seen it--or The End.

****

While we watched the movies, Leah cut up some extra white cardstock and scored all of the sheets. She folded all the 120 pieces for the Christmas cards and then did a few more tree circles with the distressing.

I am going to carefully work in short sessions at taping the larger card pieces together and then attaching them to the white cardstock base. We are tentatively planning on Tuesday and Wednesday again next week.

****

Big News!

Wait till you see this!

I won a drawing at Serena's blog back in March and she just posted the absolutely gorgeous painting she made for me!!

****

http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/2010/11/coming-up-daisies.html

****

Serena included a video on her blog (I've never figured out how people do that) of the song "A Daisy A Day", too. Misted me up! I forgot all about that song. Now I'll also think of that sweet song when I gaze at the painting, too. Nice! :)

****

Serena is soooo talented and I have always admired her bird, flower, and animal paintings--especially the one she painted of the daisies in the sun. When she asked me what I would like her to paint for me--I told her daisies because of how I loved her daisy painting. I would have been happy with one teeny tiny daisy done on the corner of a sheet of paper by Serena. Well--she has blown me away! This version is even better than the one I fell in love with on her blog! Even brighter and just soooo...well...happy! I can't explain it--but it just lifts my soul. :) :)

****

I can hardly wait to see this up close and personal--to hold it in my hands--to hang it on my wall where I can see it every day! Wow! I will take pictures. It is still drying, she said. May take a long time to make it all the way up to Fargo from Australia, but you will absolutely know when it finally lights upon my doorstep. ;)

****

I have certainly been blessed lately. One lucky lady! I have another little gift I won in a drawing coming any day now in the mail, too!! Wow! I should buy a lottery ticket once in a while, eh? ROFL!

****

Well, that's about it from here. I'm already getting surges of holiday cheer just washing over me. Hey--when it gets below freezing at night I start humming Christmas carols, ya know. The season of love and goodwill is upon us!! :):)

****

Have a great weekend!!

****

"Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but to surmount our difficulties."

Sara Ban Breathnach