Monday-10am

We did see sun this weekend.

I have proof. 

I even moved Karma's bed over by the porch door... 

...so she could catch some rays in comfort on the chilly morning. 

(Next time she's complaining about how mean and cruel I am, I'm going to show her these pictures.)

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What a nice weekend.  
Besides seeing the sun for the first time since Tuesday and finally feeling more human, I got more fun mail!!  Erin over at The Bright Owl (she has the weekly zendala dare template challenge) had a giveaway of two Zentangle Zendala tile kits to celebrate reaching 200 followers...and I was one of the winners!!  Do you believe how blessed I have been lately!?  :):)  

When I first opened them up I thought they were all blank...  

...but they have very faint hand drawn designs on them. 

Two each of nine designs plus three blanks.  Twenty-one tiles to play with.  They appear to be printed on some pretty decent drawing paper.  Thanks for having the giveaway, Erin!  And congrats on the 200 followers--whoohoo!!   

Okay...when I used the Ink Drop ink samples like watercolors for the artwork last month I kind of ruined them for fountain pen use with the wet brushes.  I didn't want to ruin any more ink samples and remembered I have these skinny syringes (no needles).  I seem to remember they were for pet medication?  Maybe for Dagan and Leah's Sammy?  (The curse of fibro-fog...maybe by now with a dash of Alzheimer's thrown in for good measure!)  I tossed them on the craft table to show you...  

...but my OCD tendencies didn't leave them like that for long--LOL!  Anyways, I could gather up a few drops from each of the five sample vials without polluting them...and was able to drip them with precision...one drop at a time...one color at a time...onto the mixed media journal... 

...and then blow them all over the paper with the air can!!  This was waaaay too much fun!!!  (Not that Karma would agree with me.) 

I searched all over for glossy paper...thought I had just a few sheets left somewhere (even though I never ran across them cleaning I didn't go through every sheet of paper I have and it just seems like something I shouldn't be out of).  I thought the ink would maybe slide better on glossy.  Couldn't find any sheets but I found some store-bought, pre-made glossy cards...spread one out...and had a blast!!  The colors stayed more true, I think.  I turned this in for the October Ink Drop Art contest at Goulet Pens.  Has a kind of spidery look for Halloween, I think.  ;) 

Was a hazy, sun-peeking weekend.  The geese are already making their way south.  If you click on the picture you can see better all the geese that landed over where there used to be a swampy pond and a wild field of prairie grass.

Some of them still stop...even though men spent a couple years filling in the natural pond/swampy area that they loved.  They used to come and stay for a few days.  The place was a concert of crickets and frogs back then.  Now they are only here for less than an hour.  No longer a motel and restaurant.  Just one of those rest stops on the highway with a half-empty candy machine and no water fountain.

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I actually did something else extra over the weekend as long as I was finally feeling better after almost two weeks...look familiar? 

I went through the tangle pics and wrote the names in pencil on the backs.  Had a few random ones left over that I will have to track down...but this step is basically done.  TaDa!!

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I guess I spent a few too many sessions doing that over the weekend.  I thought I was doing fine, but it's not always easy to judge.  Last night I couldn't sleep for the sharp pain in my back and shoulders.  I finally got up and took a pain pill and was able to sleep after while...and why I didn't wake up till 9:30 this morning.  There are times I am so grateful for pharmaceuticals!  ;)

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The next step is to start gluing them all onto the binder pages and labeling them.  I will have to wait a couple days, but I hope to start this week.  :):)

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Let's see, what else?  Oh, Karma seems to really like the Felidae canned cat food so far.  (Let's not tell her that this is also diet food.)  I didn't totally catch up on emails this weekend, but I did read blogs.  Didn't comment as much as usual.  Really can't when I am that far behind, but I am caught up with you all--whoohoo!  :)  

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I forgot to tell you that last week when I went to walk the old phones (saving as backup) out to the garage my automatic garage door key didn't work.  Dead.  Long story short...back when they switched garages for me years ago (I needed one with a garage door opener because I couldn't always manage to manually open the door with my bum arm and not all of them have openers) they forgot to also switch the electricity in the basement someplace.  So I have been paying for 202's garage electricity all these years and they've been paying for mine.  If they happen to be people who plugged in their car in the winter or something like that...maybe my bill will go down?  But most people don't plug in their cars in or spend time in their garages, so probably won't go down much.  Anyways, I learned I have a switch for the garage in my breaker box in the hallway.  ;)

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Well, that's it from Fargo for today.

I plan to find some time to play this week.  

Be healthy, safe, and happy!  

Keep smiling!

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"Focus on the journey, not the destination.  Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it."

Greg Anderson