Friday-8:45am: Secret Santa Mystery

Exciting Christmas mystery!

I still can't believe it!  :) :)

****

Monday night about 8:30 I am settled in with Karma watching TV and I get buzzed by the front door.  It was a young man from Cashwise saying that he had a gift delivery for me.  Huh?  A gift?...from the grocery store?

****

The young man shrugged his shoulders and almost giggled at my bafflement as I read the envelope.  "That's all I know"--he grinned ear to ear--"Merry Christmas!"

****

On the outside of the delivery envelope on one side it said--"gift card enclosed"--and on the other side--"Christmas present from a friend that called in to the store".  

???

****

I open the little gift card envelope inside and it was for $107.49!!  OMG!!  Talk about speechless!  I was absolutely stunned!  I look at the receipt and see that originally it was $114.98 but they deducted $7.49 for delivery charge and taxes.  So--whoever my Secret Santa is they were kind enough to even include extra for their delivery fee and my own delivery fee, too!!  Do you believe it?! 

****

Called in?  Probably from out of town?  Not a surprise as I really only know Dagan and Leah up here and a few people I rarely hear from anymore from my days at Concordia College and MSUM (1999-2004).  I called Leah right away to tell her and Dagan about this amazing mystery gift.

****

The funny thing is...I had just been thinking about how I might have to cut back even more on groceries in December because (besides already planning to order Christmas and birthday cards to be printed at Office Max, stamps, and my desk calendar)...Karma's pooper scooper handle snapped off a couple weeks ago.  I thought I could easily endure getting that up close and personal with her waste products until January, but--honestly--it was grossing me out touching everything with my thumb and had most definitely become highly debatable that I wanted to continue for another whole month.             

So...TRUTH?  The very first thing I thought of when I saw the gift card was cat poop!  ROFL!  That now I could make an Amazon order in December (already have a scooper picked out, of course) and pretty soon I wouldn't have to touch Karma's pee and poop anymore!  I actually did a little happy dance next to my desk!!  LOL! 

****

Anyways, I checked with my only possible suspect (my BFF) the next day--nope!  None of us could figure out who would have done such a wonderful thing??  I decided to call Cashwise and see if I could find out who sent the gift card.  

****

The news of my good fortune had obviously gotten around over there at the store because I asked for Cashwise Delivery and got another young man on the phone.  I said I had a kind of odd request.  Told him I had gotten a gift card the night before and was wondering if it was possible to find out who sent it to me.  With much enthusiasm he told me that it had already gone down before he got to work last night (mind you, I hadn't even told him my name) and that they had to go through the manager so I'd have to ask him...but he was off for a few days and wouldn't be back to work till Friday.  The happy young man even went and checked the schedule to tell me to call between noon and 9pm on Friday.  I said, this is just so mysterious.  I know! he said--this young guy was really enjoying the who-done-it.

****

So, I shall call this afternoon.  But, being as they didn't give their name in the first place, they may have told them not to tell if I call.  I don't know anyone close to me who would have done this.

****

My BFF, Ruby, suggested that it could have been a blogger friend!  Yes, I do mention my monthly grocery delivery from Cashwise on here--just part of my life, you know.  But I find that so hard to believe, though.  That somebody who only knows me through my silly blog babbling might have done something so marvelously monumental...???  That blows my mind even more!

**** 

Anyways, I will call the manager this afternoon.  Not sure I'll find anything out, but I will tell you what happens.  

****

Whoever you are...I am showering you with gratitude and I will testify loudly on your behalf at the pearly gates if there is a single moment's hesitation on St. Peter's part.  

Bless you!  :):):)

****

Meanwhile (back to my regular old life), I went over with Dagan and Leah to their old townhouse to go through some footlocker type chests Leah had gotten from her mother before Leah gave them away on freecycle...because there was some fabric in them.  I wanted to look for anything that might be good for either making bookcovers, cloth journal covers, or for use with mixed media.  Came home with some musty smelling hunks of fabric (that blue thing Karma is lying on is a shoulder tote bag I used to carry home part of this stash)...    

...and a couple of handmade throw pillows of her mom's (that smell so much that they are outside under one of the chair covers on the porch to air out--maybe all winter--LOL!).

I did grab one old Butterick pattern to use with mixed media.  Shows you how old all this material was--from the 80s.  We even found some shoulder pads that could have been for this jacket pattern.  

I am doing laundry today and going to add some vinegar in the washing of the fabric to try to remove the smell of being stored for a couple of decades.  ;)

****

All I got done this week so far was to try an idea I had for making a cardinal on a branch for the front of a Christmas card.  I didn't use paint, though.  I got out the colored pens--Triplus fineliners, Sharpie pens, and LePens.

Needing my outline, of course, I used a branch from one photo I found online and the cardinal from another photo--taped them together--and then outlined the basic shape with copy paper against the window. 

Then I used tracing paper (old and faint now) to get the basic shape onto my watercolor Moleskine journal.  I used the various pens to color in the bird and branch with pinecones...leaving spaces for snow. 

Then I wanted to do a watercolor background...and the plan began to falter.  I discovered that the Triplus and LePens bleed all over the place--so I had to try like heck to avoid touching them with the wet brush. 

I used some Glossy Accents for the eye... 

...and, after drying overnight, I added some white caulking for snow on the branch... 

...which did not turn out the way I envisioned, either.  Not sure if this would even copy well, but I will throw it in the pot as another choice.  I probably should have used paints.  I don't know what possessed me to try pens?  LOL!  Oh well.  Another one of those projects that are fun in the process no matter how they actually turn out.  :)

****

Caroline was here to clean on Wednesday.  Dagan and Leah had their walk-through inspection and turned in their keys to the old place yesterday.  I had computer issues this week with extreme slowness and losing connection over and over, but then it seems to have righted itself by yesterday (knock on wood).  Sun spots...cyber gremlins?  ;)

****

Today--well, I've got my white vinegar ready to combat the musty stench and my dialing finger ready for the manager.  It's a cold, grey day.  I'll continue playing with something for Christmas cards this weekend...and try not to pick something so time consuming--LOL!  And I'll leave you with a picture of why Karma wanted her blue bed back up on the loveseat.  (I flashed her while she was sleeping.)  The squishy sides allow her to be half out of the bed and have her head up on the throw pillow which puts her in the perfect position for a belly rub--you can see my thumb--LOL!

Happy dancing in Fargo!!

****

"Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us."

Boris Pasternak

***

And to my generous Secret Santa:

"The value of a man (or woman) resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving."

Albert Einstein