Friday-9am

I decided to push myself to do challenges this week.  My plan was to combine the Goulet Ink Drop monthly challenge and the APR challenge (Thanksgiving) by using the five inks for a watercolor type background and then draw maple leaves on top.  (Leaves changing always reminds of the coming holidays.)  I got this far and let it dry overnight.

But Tuesday my hands were still not working right... 

...so I used a couple of rubber stamps instead.  I've been kind of missing my stamps a bit lately, anyways. 

Not the best job, for sure, but I was just delighted to be participating.  :)  I thought of redoing it, but the time is dwindling to work on Christmas card ideas.

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Suddenly on Wednesday I woke up feeling more human than I have in three weeks!!  Only coughing occasionally and my head feels clearer.  My hands were working better, so I started on the zendala dare. 

I used sugar cane, aura-leah, and purk from my Tangles Binder. 

Actually tried shading a little on the tear drop shaped (purk) section.  None of these look exactly like the tangles I got online.  I guess I kind think of the various tangles as suggestions and adapt them my own way.  ;) 

Karma got her blue bed back up on the love seat.  She's been one happy camper.  

No howling in the bathtub and beating up the shower curtain as soon as her favorite bed was back in her favorite spot. 

But what's this?  

After all the protestations...she will sleep in the brown bed on the floor after all.  Cats!! 

Early in the week we had fog and frost. 

Looked so delicate in the sunlight as the fog was lifting. 

All week I worked here and there on the Tangles Binder...and finished last night!! 

I love it!  I can flip through...hundreds of tangles at my fingertips!  Now I'll be more likely to experiment with all these...and I can add any new ones I run across, too! 

We had snow here on Thanksgiving. 

Was really coming down for a while there. 

Well, mostly so windy that the sky was a white-gray curtain. 

So, this morning we woke up to White Friday--LOL! 

The wind was coming our way so we got some snow on the porch this time. 

Karma immediately wanted out, of course. 

She ate some snow outside.  When she came in she did her quick turn around to eat her footprints thing she does.  I usually take away the plastic in the winter, but Karma made a big protest over that, too, this year.  (I keep it there for when I leave the porch door open in the summer so that rain doesn't get on the carpet.) 

I think Karma is getting more demanding as she ages (be eight in February).  She's always been a diva, don't get me wrong.  But let's just say that she doesn't seem to like change as much as she used to.  I know how she feels--LOL!

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Dagan and Leah went to her grandparent's for Thanksgiving.  I told them that I'd rather wait longer and have our Thanksgiving at the new house after they're more settled in so I can see their new home.  

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For you new followers, the past 13+ years I spend quiet, lovely holidays alone (with Karma now).  Since Dagan met Leah we have our own separate Thanksgiving and Christmas after the fact at some point.  Works perfectly for me--no stress--peaceful--and they get to spend time with the other sides of the families.  I get to see them during the whole year, so I don't mind at all.  In fact, I think I suggested it.  I remember all the years of running here and there.  Karma and I have a wonderful time.  :)

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Well, speaking of...the Diva is crying to go out and eat snow again.  Hope those of you in the US had a nice Thanksgiving and everybody else just plain had a really good Thursday.  :)  And to those of you who were crazy enough to tackle the crowds for Black Friday--more power to ya and I hope you got the deals you were hoping for.  Me--I'd let my fingers do the shopping--ROFL!  

Stay thankful!!  ;)

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"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'Thank you', that would suffice."

Meister Eckhart

Monday-10:30am

Never got to any art this weekend.  I did do some more gluing into my Tangle Binder, though.  Got a late start on Friday and when my alarm went off to take my melatonin my hands were all sticky so I thought--I'll go take it in just a minute.  Forgot.  Well, since I've been sick my hours have shifted a bit later in the first place and I didn't get to bed until after 3am! 

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I find it endlessly amusing that if I sleep past 9am now I think half the day is gone--LOL!  My 61 years of crazy, unpredictable hours were quickly forgotten since I started on the melatonin the end of February and have been on more regular hours.  I was sometimes going to bed at 9 in the morning...or noon...or 5pm.  I never knew.

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Karma has adapted quickly, too.  Never, ever used to cry to wake me up.  She has the audacity now to start complaining if I'm not up by 8 or 9am.  I hope to be back to my more regular schedule this week (somewhere in the vicinity of midnight to 8am).  Just so-so-so funny to me.  You'd think we were pod creatures.  I have gotten used to being able to actually do things on certain days even--like blog!  Never say never in this life.  ;)

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Karma has finally been in the new bed during the day once in a while.

She gets in and just stands there and complains a while first before she reluctantly tries to lie down and find a comfortable position.  

She has managed to get comfortable enough to sleep deeply on occasion... 

...but it's just not like her blue bed...

...with the squishy, comfy sides. 

Karma has begun a brand new odd form of protest.  She never goes in the bathtub.  (Never say never, right?)  And the last few days I have heard her yowling several times... 

...and found her sitting in the bathtub in a foul mood. 

Maybe it's time to put the blue bed back up on the love seat--LOL!  ;)

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The mystery building does not appear to be an apartment building as these walls go up.  Probably another business of some kind. 

The long yellow line--was an electric cable.  You might have to click to see the larger picture but the new connecting road now has street lights!  Getting to look a little too civilized out there. 

Dagan and Leah got their stuff moved and spent their first night in the new home on Saturday night.  They had a few more things to bring over on Sunday.  That's all I know.  They don't have internet hooked up yet, but Leah did make a video tour that she never had time to download onto her computer.  So eventually we will all get to see a tour of the empty house all done and ready.  So happy for them!

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Let's see...oh, Caroline dumped the 40# bag of kitty litter for me--yes.  (I had a couple people ask about that--worried about me and my bum arm.)  And, yes, I am still coughing and tired and feeling off--but better than I was a week ago, by a long shot.  ;)

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Karma and I plan to have our usual nice quiet Thanksgiving here.  I hope everyone (in US) has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We need to remember all year long what we are grateful for, right?  I have such an endless list...too long to mention.  So I shall just smile and wish you a beautiful, heartwarming week.  :) :)

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"As I walked down the avenue, the late afternoon sun was turning the lovely and dying sycamore leaves into fragments of brilliant stained glass, and I said to myself, 'This alone is worth the price of admission to our broken and glorious world.'"

Linda Larsson

Friday-8:30am

I'll post the challenges first so my fellow participants don't have to scroll through the minutia of my life to find them.  ;)  

The Zendala Dare this week.

Since I am still tail-end sick and totally drained, I couldn't really concentrate to do anything fancy--just my own doodles. 

Very simple.  Mostly just felt like coloring with my Copic markers--LOL!

At the Artist's Playroom the challenge this week was Christmas.  Since I need to come up with something for Christmas cards soon for this year, I got out all my paper.  I had an idea for using paper piecing and Stickles to make Christmas ball ornaments. 

I didn't like it--at all!  Am embarrassed to even post this but at least I contributed this week.  Back to the drawing board.  I'm not feeling very creative right now--sorry, Jennifer. 

The snow laden clouds drifted off, but it stayed very cold the first half of the week. 

I made it out to the garage on Monday to retrieve this big white Rubbermaid tub.  Icy walking and biting wind of one degree windchill.  Made two trips, actually, bringing out both my floor fans for the winter.  Scrubbed the tub out to be ready for the big bag of kitty litter. 

Monday the big can of flake fish food arrived... 

...along with the 40# bag of litter.  [Saving boxes for Dagan and Leah who are moving tomorrow--but they haven't come to pic them up yet.  Maybe won't need them?] 

The unnecessary item I ordered for me was a letter tray.

I wanted it on the cabinet behind me when I am sitting at the craft table.  I keep papers on top of there all the time now and if they fall down behind the cabinet...I am screwed!  I have a terrible time trying to retrieve anything that falls behind there.  Almost impossible for me to move it with one good arm...so now I have a kind of paper corral.  ;)

Miss Karma's unnecessary item.  Another cat bed!  

Karma has loved me moving her bed around the apartment, but she also expects her bed to magically be next to me on the love seat whenever she decides to keep me company.  I thought that if I had another bed she would actually like and use that the problem would be fixed, right?

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Well, Miss Snoopy Pants wanted nothing to do with it.  She wouldn't go near it or smell it or claim it in any way, shape or form.  That's why I put it up on the loveseat.  If she wanted to come and sit by me...well, she'd have to confront the new bed.

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She stayed in the old, familiar bed by the cold porch door.

But late in the evening she missed my belly rubbings enough to jump up on my footrest, lay across my leg, stare at the offending object, and complain loudly long enough to determine I wasn't actually going to move it--LOL!  She acted like it was going to jump up and bite her, but she finally gingerly made her way into the bed--and discovered--it wasn't too bad!  She was a bit nervous and needed a lot of petting and belly rubbing...

...and constant contact with me... 

...but she figured out it was safe, if not a bit more awkward for sprawling purposes.   

Karma's kind of semi-adapted, but I don't plan to switch the beds for quite a while because I want her to get really used to this one.  She's kind of being forced to use it by her overpowering need for evening company at the moment.  All day long she sleeps wherever her blue bed is and avoids the new brown one.  I told you Karma thinks I am mean--ROFL!

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The next thing I plan to change on her is to replace this dreadfully stained, old, flat, cream-colored bed that she uses as a placemat.  I just washed this a couple weeks ago--gross!  And she's worn spots down to the mesh fabric base.  I plan to buy a brownish one that won't show the kibble stains so much.  I think she'll have a much quicker time adapting to that, though.  I hope.  Cats.  You never know.

On Wednesday Caroline helped me bring the bedroom window fan down the hall to the storage area and bring back some computer paper.  I also grabbed the dirt bucket so I could plant poor, beleaguered Karma some new cat grass. 

She is still loving her air mattress, though.

So I decided to let her keep that packaging for a while. 

Until she tires of it or the air slowly seeps out of it, whichever comes first. 

I did write up some notes and a letter for The World Needs More Love Letters.  Is kind of odd writing to people you don't know, but it is always uplifting to spread some positives.  They decided to hold some kind of 12 days of love letters thing from Dec 3-14 that I signed up for, too.  I dang well should be feeling back to my normal by that time, right?  :) 

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  I can hardly wait until things work right again.  When I am feeling "off" it is like my hands and brain don't quite connect properly--LOL!  The scissors don't cut right (even when you're not coughing), the pens and markers have a mind of their own, the Stickles won't flow, the glue stick runs out...well, I bet you know what I mean.  Karma thinks her life is a bit off, too, with the alien cat bed--LOL!  I am sure things will be put to rights again soon.  This week was better than last week.  Next week will be even better.  :)

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I hope all goes well with Dagan and Leah's move to their new house.  I thought maybe I'd have a tour video for you today, but not sure they've even had time to do one.  Last I heard, they close today and move tomorrow, so who knows.  At least it is warming up to the low 40s during the days now again.  :)

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Stay well, everybody!  If you don't like to write letters--tell somebody you care about what they really mean to you.  In person, on the phone, email...just tell them they are special to you.  Life is too short!  :):)

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Today I couldn't decide on a quote.  Love too many.  Settled on three.  ;)

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"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."

Mother Teresa

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"Spread love everywhere you go.  Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

Mother Teresa

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"They might not need me; but they might.

I'll let my head be just in sight;

a smile as small as mine might be

precisely their necessity."

Emily Dickinson

Monday-9:30am

Woke up Sunday to snow again.

A little more than a dusting this time... 

...but not enough to plow.  West of us they got quite a bit. 

I saw flakes this morning floating about on the updraft next to the building, but they're gone now. 

Spied a huge crane out there this morning that is moving lumber onto the mystery building site.

 What a dark day.  14 degrees right now.  Windchill of 1 degree.  I hope it warms up a little before next weekend.  Dagan and Leah plan to close this week and move on Saturday!  I am still too sick to make it over for the new house tour, but Dagan and Leah said they'd make a video for me.  We'll all see it together.  :)

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Three different packages arrived Friday and Saturday.  The Prism ArtBin with the 18 compartments...

 ...I thought might be perfect for the Silks paint jars...

...doesn't quite latch. 

If you set something down on it or push down on it (like I am with my hand)--close but no cigar.   

It doesn't seem to hurt it, though. So I think they will be stored in here regardless.  I like that I can see through it top and bottom.  There are color name stickers on top and bottom.  Well, supposed to be--three of mine came without the top stickers, as you can see.  I have a slew of little Twinkling H2Os that could use a home like this, too....  ;)

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Washi tape is really popular right now.  It's a paper tape that you can buy in all kinds of prints and colors.  I have seen people make their own versions by decorating masking tape on waxed paper or butcher paper.  I thought...what about cloth tape?  Is there such a thing?  And I found white cloth hockey tape!

Big roll for $5.00 and it is so soft!  I wondered if the cloth tape would take watercolor/paints better?  Fairly cheap experiment, I figured.  (And I already do have some masking tape to try, too.) 

The final package...my alphabet dividers for my Tangle Binder!  Tada!  And I got a cheap stylus to use on my cell phone screen when I play Draw Something with Leah.  (I found out I am an even worse drawer with my finger on a tiny screen--LOL!)  You have to press down firmly, but I am getting used to the stylus for drawing--and like having more control!

Miss Karma enjoyed her packaging, of course. 

I've never seen the green puffy ones before.  They remind me of the air mattresses we had to blow up (made you dizzy!) when we were kids to use under our sleeping bags when we went camping!  Makes me chuckle every time Karma lays across it.  (They're strong and don't pop even with a 20 lb cat lounging on them!)  I imagine her camping...or...oh! oh!--it could even be one of those air mattresses they use in the pool!  ROFL!  Doesn't take much to amuse me, does it?

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My last two Amazon packages are "out for delivery" today via UPS.  Kitty litter, flake fish food, and two unnecessary, splurge items--one for me and one for Karma.  ;)

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Meanwhile...

Can't believe I am still feeling so lousy.

Nasty bug!  

But I am sleeping better and that is definitely helping me improve day by day.

I am hoping to get to some creating this week.  :)

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I may have posted this before, but I just love this quote.

Have a really wonderful week!  :):)

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"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."

Emily Dickinson