Saturdday-New Year's Eve-11:30am

Happy New Year!

Goodbye to 2016.  

I hope this will be a good year for us all.

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I am very happy to see the jackrabbits this past week.

They are not so skittish as the birds. 

They come at dusk and clean up anything that is left on the ground... 

...leaving little round presents in exchange.  ;) 

Leah came up with a brilliant suggestion for the bird feeder.  The complaint was focused on my hanging the feeder from the balcony above, right?  So we're going to take the bird feeder down, set it on my little metal table out there, and wait to see if they forbid that, too.  

What the heck!  

I have nothing to lose.

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I ran out of the calming spray about five days before Karma did this to her ear in half a day.  How does she manage to do this with no claws?

Again...Leah had a brilliant suggestion.  The cover didn't screw off but Leah managed to pry it off, we added some distilled water, popped the cover back on, and now we have a watered down version to use till the new bottle arrives.  Karma had done that to her ear Wednesday night.  Leah came over Thursday night--and I started spraying her collar again and Karma has pretty much left herself alone and her bloody ear is healing up.  So maybe the spray is really helping?  I'll have to make sure I always have some, I guess.

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Leah spent hours working on Mr. Rusty.  I know!  The problems had not been resolved.  *sigh*  So she had Dagan on speaker phone and he helped her wipe Rusty's brain.  This time I don't have windows 10 and went back to an earlier factory setting--Windows 8?  

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McLap was saved, though!!  

Hurray!  I have backup!!  

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It took till almost midnight before we could finally get to "the box".

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OMG!!!!

WE LOVE IT!!!!

LOVE IT-LOVE IT-LOVE IT!!!!

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Yes!!  We were like kids with a new toy!!  

Mouths hanging open in disbelief!

Eyes sparking!!

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My old Cuttlebug had gotten worse over time...loosened up, I suppose.  We were used to experimenting with shims of all kinds...different plate "sandwiches"...the endless struggle to get a thin die cut all the way...and most of the time without success.  We gave up on the new thin dies a few years ago...well, and cutting very much at all.  It could still cut the circles that Leah used for her Christmas gift tags because those were Spellbinder dies (a bit thicker).  But we haven't wanted to use the Cuttlebug for mass producing our birthday or Christmas cards...well, for years.

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We made a permanent home in the studio for the new Vagabond 2.

 

I'll be clearing off the other half of the shelf behind it because it's a handy place to set things as we are working...but this is its new home. 

 

We were absolutely blown away by how simple it was to cut intricate thin dies we couldn't cut before!!  And without any shims or trouble whatsoever!  Just the plates that come with it and that is that.  Whoohoo!!

 

Of course we had to see how it embossed, too.  We have never had such crisp embossing before!  This machine has power!

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 Leah embossed some thank yous I could add on top of my Christmas thank you cards.  Took no time at all.  With no cranking and sore arms!  Just the push of a button.

 

I taped these all on yesterday, so now I can start working on my Thank You cards so I can get them in the mail.

Leah even made extras!

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We have been just over the moon!!  Been looking up dies for our wish lists...some stamps, too...and sending links back and forth.  (Yes, the internet can be a royal pain sometimes, but don't you just love it?!)  I already had plans to buy a few dies if the Vagabond worked decently and showed them to Leah Thursday night.  Stuff we both like!  Whoohoo!  So will put in an order in January...and will show you the goodies when they arrive.  :) 

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Meanwhile--I will just continue to be extra careful jumping up backwards to sit on the bed because I won't order a step until probably February.  (Priorities, you know--LOL!)  I do plan to get one like I got for Miss Karma.  Made for humans to get in and out of the bathtub, but works fantastic for her and will work for me, too.  (I tried it--LOL!) 

Speaking of Miss Karma.  I am moving my few Christmas do-dads into my Croc boxes this year and hauled them into the pantry in preparation for the undecorating (what little there is).  Of course, Karma lies next to them...since she can't lie on top of them--LOL!

She's my cat arrow--pointing--this is new, did you notice?  She pointed out the Vagabond box to me, too, until I moved it.  :)

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Anyways, I couldn't let the year end on such a sour note.  Leah and I are absolutely thrilled with the new toy!!  I really do foresee a lot more card making in 2017--LOL!  Leah will be back on Monday night for crafts.  We have been bouncing ideas off of each other like crazy!

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Oh, and I also heard that they give you something when you have cataract surgery so that you don't care at all what they are doing to you.  That made me feel a lot better.  Now--it's just worrying about actually physically getting to all these appointments--LOL!  But for now...I have die cutting and embossing on the brain.  Play time was the best!  Leah and I both feel recharged!  :)

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This year I am doing a mini new year's ceremony again.  I plan to join in online again this year with a group of crafters doing this Ring In 2017.  It was pretty fun to watch last year.  They do have a chat room, but I don't usually chat much.  You can do projects with them if you want to.  Last year I joined in on one of the art projects.  This year I plan to use the time to organize for challenges I would like to try in 2017...picking out journals and such.  I might even work on thank you cards.  But since the group went from about 7pm till something like 2am last time (central)...I will do my little new year's ceremony earlier this year.  (Angel cards and such, for my new folks.) 

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Anyways--happy new year to one and all!!  

Things are looking up already. 

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Bless you and thank you for visiting us up here in Fargo.  I am grateful for every comment and every personal email and every letter all year long.  You all are my cyber family!!  Best to you in the coming year.  Love and hugs from me and Miss Karma.

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Hello 2017!!

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"When the waves close over me, I dive down to fish for pearls."

Masha Kaleko