10-22-2018 Monday-12:45pm

Good afternoon!

We've had some pretty fluffy-cloud days 

(taken from left to right).

We had a couple unexpected warmer days (60s-70s!). 

Then right back to jacket weather. 

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By last Wednesday I figured I was done enough in the studio.

Well, I had just a few more things to clear off... 

...but I really needed to get going on the Christmas cards.

So--good "enough".

 I decided that all the various drawers can wait.  Most of them are already organized and just needed tweaking and dusting. 

Except for the first few drawers in the tall cherry cabinet that are a mess--but we do know where to find what we need in there--LOL! 

I passed on the dusting of the top of the wall shelf unit and all the punches on the punch racks.  Good enough for now.  Things to do and time is a'wastin'. 

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The Girls are here a few times a day when it's cold.  There are eight of them and they are full of beans!  Hopping and chasing and being silly.  Such fun to watch.  

I'm glad Ian got to see them on Saturday being all wild and crazy.  :) 

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I finished clearing off stuff in the studio on Thursday and called it a day. 

Feels good. 

Even though that OCD voice inside my head nags and complains about the undusted...the not quite completed task.  I will beat her back to some far quiet corner--reminding her that more dust always comes...there are Christmas cards to make...and I am slow-slow-slow these days...time to move on--LOL!  ;)   

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Across the way--status on the three trees.  The middle one turned and lost all its leaves in the rough winds.  The third one is turning.    

Still on their right to left trajectory. ;)
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Does anyone else always seem to think it strange to see the moon before the sun goes down?  I know...I see it frequently...but it always seems just a little bit wrong. 

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Saturday we had a Gramma Day!  Was a special one because Leah brought Subway for lunch and stayed a while.  We worked on our final decisions for the assembly-line Christmas cards.  Leah made up card samples... 

...while slowpokes Ian and I were still eating lunch. 

I told Ian that I needed to remember to take some pictures when he comes for Gramma Days.  He's at this age of trying to gross you out with chewed food... 

...and making funny faces...

...but I caught him looking himself, too--LOL! 

While he ate lunch he watched a narrowboater and another pottery video on youtube.  We had a quiet day after Mama left.  I showed him more of the pottery Mama had made long before he was born.  Even switched up the candy bowl for the heck of it to another gorgeous bowl she made.  (Easier for little hands to dig through.) 

We're pretty sure she went two different years.  (Neither of us has the best memory--LOL!)  You can kind of tell by the roughness and thickness of some of them compared to the next batch.  I have covered a lot of the bottoms with felt so we can't check the dates.  All the better ones with good bottoms say 2007.
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I use a lot of them for pen cups and water bowls for painting. 

These were quite the invention! 

You know how with acrylics it is often hard to get the paint out of the bristles? 

Well, Leah made these big water pots with all those rough chunks on the bottoms to rub the brush on! 

I love the top edges carved to hold your brushes, too!  Leah is so clever!

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Here's some more pen holders and cat dishes.  

And this treasured item!!!  She made this special for me (and wrote to me on the bottom). 

It's a beautiful rice bowl! 

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Then Ian wanted to get out the punches, of course.  This time Gramma got some special gifts--so I taped them on to my laptop with washi tape so I will see them every day.  :) 

He is punching up some strips of painted paper of mine.  It is such fun to do mark-making!
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The subway lunch came with decals for Ian.  (Zootopia, but he hasn't seen that movie.)  Ian put them on the patio door and...well, all over the place.  We were talking about how Liam might get a hold of them and put them in his mouth, as toddlers do.  We decided to gather them all together and put them on the door so he wouldn't forget them when he left.  Ian was showing me how high he could put them.  I took pictures to show Mama because we weren't sure she'd let him bring them home. 

Ian was right--Mama said yes.  :)

Ian thought I should take videos, too, on Gramma Days.  
I think so, too.

Then we settled in to watch Maru the cat and My Self Reliance till it was time to go home for dinner.

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I was so tired from the visit and from three weeks of the head cold...I slept 12 hours!!  And slept well!  Did again last night--about 8 hours.  I hate to jinx myself, but it feels like I might be over the hump--tada!  (knock on wood)  The head is less stuffed, headache is less, breathing is better...maybe getting over this annoying, sleep-stealing cold?  Hope so.  :) :) :)
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Yesterday I worked all day (yes I am slower than molasses in January) on starting the new bullet journal.  My hands weren't working great when I started out, but they warmed up a bit.  Did a simple future log and that's it for any extra lists.

Going to put all other lists in separate notebooks I'll keep in my big turquoise travelers notebook style cover.  So I need to copy all the lists/collections into a nice new travelers notebook, too.  If you've forgotten my fancy leather cover, I'll show you when I switch over in November to the new bullet journal.
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Got November calendar set up.

The tracker page and the goals & correspondence page are nearly completed.

And almost done with the weekly spreads.

So many lines to draw.  Kind of a fun thing to do while I watch something on TV that I don't have to pay a lot of attention to or while listening to an audio book.  I had nearly forgotten I needed to get November completely ready before I can work on cards.  I actually have all of next year roughed in the bullet to work on whenever I feel like listening to audio books.  ;)
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Well, that's it from here.  Goodness!  That's a lot of photos this week.  But one big weekly post works better for me lately so I hope you don't mind.
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Today it's a balmy 51 degrees.  The sun is shining.  I can usually breathe out of one nostril.  I barely have a headache.  I feel back to a normal pain level.  Life is good!  Not that I didn't appreciate each of my head cold days...but life is especially good today.  ;) 
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Till next week, my friends!!
Count your blessings!!  :) :) 
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"When the bridge is gone, the narrowest plank becomes precious."
Hungarian proverb