Tuesday-11am

Late start today.

Hope you'll join me with a cuppa.  :)

(How did I have this many pictures when I was sick?!)

My view from my chair all week.  

No better place to be sick than our new home.  :)

 Until Saturday evening I was just in my big brown chair hanging out with Karma, cold medicine, a box of Puffs, and my lap desk.  Karma was glad when I felt decent enough to be back at the kitchen table.  Here she is using the wooden arm of "her" chair as a pillow.  

We had dark days and blindingly bright days.  Freezing cold winds...but Karma and I were inside nice and warm. 

Amazon delivered five new little board books for Ian when he comes over.  (Ignore the mess on the table.)  Ian loves books!  (And Gramma loves to read them to him.)   

I did get card fronts cut for stamping with the MISTI on Craft Night with Leah on Sunday.  I had almost cancelled, but so glad I didn't because I finally did start to sound human by Saturday--knee is better, too.  (And we had a fun night--till 2:30am!) 

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The Zig Clean Color brush marker set came, too.  I stuck them in one of the pretty pots Leah made me in pottery class. 

The red thermal mug is always by my side with hot coffee (especially in the winter--LOL!) so I have a few shots for the T-Stands For Tuesday group.  I am so boring with always drinking the same thing.  Well, that's not true.  I drink many different kinds of black coffees, but in the same favorite red mug.  

I worked and worked on letters all week.  Sent out 33 so far and have a dozen more lined up--plus I might get some more in the mail to answer before the end of February--whoohoo!  So I already finished the challenge of a letter a day in February for Month of Letters.  Felt good to send out several letters to people I haven't written to for some time.  Oh--and--if it weren't for the people who sent me books of stamps inside their Christmas cards (you know who you are) I wouldn't have been able to do this.  Thank you so much!!!  Really kept my mind off the snot brain and kept me very, very busy.  :)

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 This was taken on Sunday but is exactly where Karma is again right this moment--in her chair by my side.  She thinks all is right with the world again.  (Even if she preferred all the extra comfy chair time, she does like our new routine here--LOL!) 

Where I usually spend my mornings (and most of the afternoons) next to Karma--LOL! 

We did get a little snow. 

Naturally, the wind rearranged it... 

...across the sidewalks. 

 I do find the snowbanks almost sculptural. 

They look quite ice-packed, don't they? 

One day while the wind howled and I was up stretching...I looked out the window and saw what looked like three boulders in the snow.  Was three jackrabbits hunkered down, ears flattened, faces into the wind, just waiting out the bad weather like statues, I guess.  I have never seen that before. 

Ever since that last big windstorm there have been panicky, restless, running, flying, chasing grouse.  I tried to snap a picture of this big one as he was chasing one my usual group of medium-sized grouse. 

I've seen two of these bigger grouse that look almost twice the size of "my" little family members and they chase them everywhere.  Meanwhile, there are also some new younger, smaller grouse that were trying to follow my usual group around--but then they were chasing those smaller ones away!  Haven't seen the smallest ones since.  It's been very stressful in the grouse world.

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It says online that they are territorial--so maybe the high winds blew in bigger birds who want to take over here?  They aren't supposed to have their breeding season until spring--but I wondered about that being the cause, too?

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My cell phone doesn't zoom well.  (Neither does my camera.)  After the big guy went chasing after one of my lone grouse...noticed a few of the family kind of hiding over by the garages across the way.  That was as close as I could get a shot.

There has been no calm grazing going on since the big bullies arrived like a week and a half ago.  I don't see the grouse every day like I used to.  And when I do they are racing or flying past.  Poor things.  Not a good time to be under high stress when there is so little to eat, you know?  But that's the latest from North Sky's Wild Kingdom.  ;)

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Leah came over Sunday night for Craft night after Ian went to bed.  First we played a little with trying to cut out some snowflake dies we bought ages ago and hadn't tried.  The intricate dies would not cut paper no matter what "sandwich" of plates, shims, and even the metal plate that we tried.  Only one set of snowflake dies worked (white paper ones on the right).  We even tried foam.  The plain cheap foam worked (pink snowflakes at the bottom) but are such a pain to try to glue on to paper.

So we tried some sticky back foam (above-left) but it would only cut the foam and not much or any of the sticky back paper.  We picked out the waste materials--but wouldn't be able to use these for making 80-100 Christmas cards that's for sure.  :(  Not with the Cuttlebug, anyways.

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We've been having troubles all along with the intricate dies using the Cuttlebug.  Even buying the metal plate hasn't helped.  We are going to have to investigate online to find out which die cut machine is the best for all these new skinny, skinny intricate dies.  Maybe down the line we will have to buy a new machine.  We may just have used the heck out of this one--LOL!  It seemed to cut better when it was new a decade or so ago.  ;)

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It still cuts our old Spellbinder dies okay.  Leah was cutting circles for hours for her recyclable Christmas present tags.  She finished (and that is why we just kept going so late)--tada!  She's making them in red, green, and deep blue.  Next she will punch the snowflakes for the front circles.    

She did punch a couple to test the new snowflake punch.  They will be layered like this. 

I think they are so pretty!  And there's a white circle on the back so she can write the "to and froms".  

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  I was working on stamping fronts for birthday cards--and I finished these 70 card fronts, too.  (LOVE the new MISTI!!)

You can see why I will need a good long time to color all of these--LOL!  I already have the 2016 birthday cards made up, so I have lots of time.  ;)  Feels good to be ahead of the game, though.  And I have a couple more to stamp up and color, too!  

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I got this mandala coloring book from AliceKay for Christmas.  The page on the left was pre-colored to show you how it can be done.  That wasn't me!

But I did color the blank smaller one on the right hand side. 

Perfect for me to experiment on how to use these new Zig Clean Color brush markers. 

I have never had brush markers...  

...and they do take some getting used to. 

These have real bristles and not just harder foam.  

Whole new experience.  I need to practice--and the mandala coloring book is absolutely perfect for that.  (Thanks, AliceKay!)  I am slowly getting used to having a much lighter touch to get into the teeny tiny spaces.  :)

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Let's see.  What else?

Oh, I didn't make it to the potluck meeting last Tuesday, of course, being croupy-sounding sick.  But I did call the lady whose number was on the flyer and suggest we get set up here with the library outreach program and gave her Pam's number.  And I did say she could put me down for the possible craft group that was mentioned if we are bringing our supplies down to the community room to chat together while we work on our various projects.  She said there is going to eventually be a calendar flyer put out every month to let us know what is when.  :)

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I am having issues again with my email notifications for blog posts.  I think I am missing some altogether and some are being stacked up and sent all together later.  Sometimes MUCH later!  For example, I got 25 at once in one email from Fishducky!  So, if you haven't heard from me for a while, that could be the problem.  This has happened before.  Nothing I can do about it.  :(  Just wanted to let you know.  And--no--nobody is being sent to Spam this time--LOL!  That has happened, too, out of the blue.  Don't you love technology?  Then Google is also behaving like boys with secret clubhouse passwords.  Well, we just have to keep plugging along with what we have to work with, right?  I'd feel lost without it.  ;)

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That's the last week from my little corner of the world.  :)  I hope to be writing letters, learning how to use my brush markers, working on cards...and staying well!!!!  :):)

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"To us, our house was not unsentient matter -- it had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction."

Mark Twain