Friday-6:45am

Hallelujah!!

I was never so glad to see a pooper scooper!  Isn't this a beauty?!  All metal with a plastic sleeve handle.  This should last forever!  Happy me!  (And happy Karma, I haven't exactly been wanting to clean the cat box as often since the plastic handle snapped off--lol!)

Been like Christmas this week for Miss Karma, too.  Well, that's just her new brown bed to the right, but the dirty old cream colored crate bed or bumper bed went off in the trash and she has a new smaller brown one for her "treat" (diet food) tin.  She loved it right away.  The blue mat to the left is supposed to be self-warming--as she lies there it is supposed to warm up from her body heat, I guess.  But she has to lie on it in order to find this out--and, of course, when you want her to lie on something then Miss I-claim-this-with-my-body won't have anything to do with it.  Yet.  ;)  Maybe I can think of some way to entice her.  

Karma walks quite stiff-legged for a while after she gets up this past year--especially now that it is cold again.  I thought this might work for a fraction of the cost of those heated ones you have to plug in...which I never, ever thought I'd even consider buying for a cat.  But then I've never purchased a cat stroller before, either.  ;)

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Karma dove right in to her tin and was comfy as all get out with the cushy brown crate bed, though, so that was a definite and immediate winner. 

I know these items might not be that exciting to somebody else, but I was rapturous!  I got a letter sorter to match the new letter tray I bought previously.  I always have letters going and I use this to hold the envelopes and the bookcards that are in progress and my writing guide stash...priceless!!  I was using an old napkin holder with one slot.  Now I have three and can organize--LOL!  ;) 

I discovered they make really wide masking tape!  I was using three or four strips to cover the spiral binding in my Visual Journals when I paint and spray.  Now maybe I can use one wide strip.  Less leakage!  (Can you hear the joy!)  I also ordered the one StazOn refill that they were out of when I found all those discontinued refills a few months back.  (Never going to buy a new ink pad without the refill again!)

Two more of those perfect containers to hold my laundry soap.  They come with an unmarked plastic handled scoop that holds just a little over a cup--now in my rice and flour containers. 

My ice cube trays are so old they have cracks and have been leaking water all over my freezer so I thought I would try these new silicone trays.  I ordered the smaller one-inch-square red ones to try them out (cheaper than the bigger blue ones).  

I ordered this fun set of Tulip fabric paints because they were on the list of optional supplies for the Silks class.  They weren't expensive and I would never think to buy fabric paint so I was really curious as to what we will do with these. 

Got a set of regular colored Gel Sticks and metallic Gel Sticks.  I've seen mixed-media artists smearing these around to make background colors on youtube videos.  Now that the Christmas cards were all in the mail by Wednesday, I can start thinking about art and playing again!!  

But first...my OCD organizer self was thrilled to pieces and couldn't wait to get my little mitts on my yearly calendar "stuff"!!  This past year I started using an inexpensive Peter Pauper Press journal (on the left) for a weekly "To Do" list. 

Turned out I really liked and have actually been using it for the past ten months.  Maybe because it's small and I can keep it handy right near the craft table.  Anyways, I went through and dated the new one (on the right above) for the whole coming year.   

Then I got a brand new type of desk calendar after using the same bound type since about 1997--so you can see why this is a big deal for me.  ;)  Levenger discontinued their refill calendar a couple of years ago and I had been trying to smash a different brand into the leather holder since then.  This year I went crazy and said--no more!  The old battered red leather holder that I used in my office and then up here when I went to college, dragging it around with me in my backpack, and ever since...will finally be retired.  

I got this spiral one with the same general layout.  Transferred all the birthdays, anniversaries, and information to the appropriate days...filled out the monthly bills section I made in the back for my budgeting...and transferred all the addresses and numbers for all the county, state, and federal folks I deal with endlessly and doctors, etc.   

Then I worked on my new goal list for 2013 (only had 14 left out of 42 from 2012--not bad!) and decided to do something else different that might work better for me.  I cut up the 2013 goal list and taped it into the front pages of my new weekly "To Do" journal.  Now maybe it won't get buried under paperwork on my desk and be forgotten for months at a time--LOL!

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Ahhh!  

Yes!  

Rapturous!!

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But then I tried the new silicone ice cube trays--LOLOL!  Does anybody have the secret as to how to actually fill these and get them into the freezer?!  And I thought I had water problems on the bottom of the freezer because of the old cracked trays!  It is like trying to carry jello!!!  I was dribbling water everywhere!!

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So--I pondered--what could I use to brace these little things without taking up a lot of room in the freezer?  I came up with this.

I took pieces of chipboard (from the backs of small legal pads) and covered them completely with clear packing tape to make them as waterproof as possible and they worked quite well...as trays for the trays--LOL!  Sad!  

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The idea of the silicone ice cube trays sounded really good, but--and that's a big BUT--in practice they were actually a pain in the butt.  Does anyone have a secret I don't know about as to how to use these?  They were also hard to pop out (of course I have one very weak arm, though) and to fill.  You know how regular ice cube trays kind of have connecting dips so they can overflow into each other and it helps them to level out?  Well these are individual squares.  You have to fill each one separately, it's hard to see if they are each filled, and they are too floppy to tip around to level them out.  I was flummoxed, to be honest.  Maybe it's kind of like the better mouse trap thing?  Switching from the old lever type was good, but maybe there's nothing better than the plastic twisty ones.  *sigh*  Any advice would be appreciated.  Does anyone have favorite ice cube trays that work really well?

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Meanwhile--Karma obviously loves her new "food tray".

The very last item to arrive was the big green scoop for the kitty litter.  Yesterday, of course--AFTER Caroline was here on Wednesday and she completely emptied out and I scrubbed Karma's litter tub...and Caroline wiped down the wooden box and then had to lift the whole white plastic tub with 40 pounds of kitty litter in it.  Murphy's Law that it would arrive a day late.  (No the stickers, which bug me, don't come off easily at all--bummer--deal with them later with some goo-gone.)  Karma is finally using some of the new brand I got through Amazon--tada!  We were still very impressed with the lack of dust.  So far, so good! 

Anyways, the scoop was supposed to arrive on Monday, but it somehow ended up in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.  Then Tuesday they posted that it would be delivered on Wednesday, but it finally arrived (without change to the Weds. delivery date) on Thursday.  I have noticed a lot of orders that say they are UPS are arriving via USPS in the regular mail.  It actually says "UPS Mail Innovations".  According to my mail lady the "innovation" is that UPS backs a truck up to the post office every morning and unloads a ton of packages for USPS to deliver. ???  What is the deal with that?  I see the big brown UPS truck delivering packages here still?  So it's not that they have quit having UPS carriers up here?  Anybody else know anything about this new "UPS Mail Innovations" that's been going on?  The tracking information is delayed and sometimes non-existent.  The deliveries take longer.  Why is UPS using the regular post office to finish their deliveries?  Even the mail lady didn't know.

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Yesterday I caught up with the More Love Letters and will get just one more email now today to finish the 12 day special event.  It got me to thinking about how I used to keep letters...for years and years.  And then my aunt was telling me a few years back about how after clearing out her mother-in-laws house how weird it was going through other people's personal stuff and how we have too much of it...and she was going to clean her basement--LOL!

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  Myself, it got me to thinking about stuff I have around my place.  And I thought of the letters people had written to me.  I truly, honestly don't care if people read anything that I wrote, but it got me to thinking about how several of the people I write to aren't necessarily open book types, you know?  They are able to tell me things that they might not tell other people and I am honored that they feel free to tell me absolutely anything--but they certainly wouldn't ever want anyone else but me to read what they wrote, you know?  I wanted them to feel perfectly safe in that they could tell me anything whatsoever and it will never go any further.  Their total privacy and safety is more important to me than whether I can go back and read it years later.  So I started shredding.

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 I have one special small drawer where I save my letters.  Every couple of months I go through them one last time and then shred them.  Dagan and Leah know where the drawer is and I made them promise me that if anything ever happened to me that they would shred whatever letters are still in that drawer. 

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So anyone who writes to me--past, present, or future--your secrets are safe with me and your privacy is paramount.  :) :)  Just an FYI--because we do talk about everything--LOL!  But I am perfectly fine with you keeping my letters.  Doesn't bother open-book me in the least bit, okay? Just wanted to put that out there.  :)

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Then--I have one final bit of amazing news!  (Can this Christmas get any better!?)  Jeannie emailed me and asked me if I wanted her old Kindle!!!  Yes!  Yes!  Thank you so much, Jeannie!!!

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Since I hurt my arm in 1995 and have the permanent muscle damage--well, it is harder to hold a book for very long or even to press down the pages to keep it open when it's propped up or on a table.  I've tried book weights and book holders...and just ended up falling out of the habit of reading as much as I used to.  That's the biggest reason I wanted to save up my Christmas money toward buying a Kindle--because I think it could be easier to read again.  :)

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You know how old-fashioned I am with pens and papers and inks, so it is no surprise that I love a real book that I can hold and smell and feel the pages as I turn them.  I have an entire personal collection of bookmarks, for goodness sake!!  But I have finally come round to thinking that an electronic book just might actually work for me...and maybe even work well.  And I just might read more again.  ??  That was my plan for 2013.

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And then Jeannie offers me her Kindle reader!!

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Gosh!  Sometimes lately I feel like my heart is going to explode in my chest or I am going to float right up and away into the sky!!  :):)

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  On that note...

...if I could hug you all I would!  I wish you all happiness and joy and peace!!  Have a stunning weekend.  :):)

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"One of life's most fulfilling moments occurs in the split-second when the familiar is suddenly transformed into the dazzling aura of the profoundly new."

Edward B. Lindaman