FINALLY!!!!

I'm finally able to post. Blogger was having some technical problems so haven't been able to post for 3 days. The week before that was just plain busyness.
So this last weekend I got to crop Friday night and all day Saturday. It was fun. It was productive. It was a time of eating too much. It was not enough sleep.
Gabby came for awhile too:
I think she may have to grow some more to really appreciate it. Although a couple of the younger girls that were there cropping were awfully helpful at times. Thanks Mallory and Kendall.
I learned something new. How to transfer photos to muslin. Took me about three hours to really get the process down. I kept wanting to hurry it along and that's one of those things you just can't do. I had bought a Somerset Workshop book and that was the first 'workshop' I did. Can't wait to try some of their other ones. I think that book will be well worth the investment.
So in two weeks we'll be back to our regular crops, the second Saturday and for "only" 9 hours, is that really enough time to get anything done?
This coming weekend is the men's barbershop chours' show. We are singing a few songs too. It's a tribute to Bob Hope so will be set up like a USO. I'm looking forward to it. I volunteer to put the stage makeup on the men. That's always very fun, it's great to able to kid them about that when they come into the restraunt to eat. So I'll have a busy week. But a good one I'm sure.

Surf safer

On the right panel of my blog you'll notice a new little box that says better, safer, faster with the back of a little fox. If you click on that little box it will take you to the website for Mozilla Firefox where you can safely and easily switch from using Internet Explorer as your browser to Firefox. It's totally free AND really is safer. Since switching to Firefox I've had a lot less problems with viruses, worms, trojans, data miners and all those other nasty things that the wonderful people on the internet can throw in your way. More people tend to target IE as a source to pass along all those icky things that can totally ruin your computer. Sometimes you'll run into a program that will only run with IE (example, if I want to print up my rewards certificate from Best Buy I have to use it) but that hardly ever happens. So this was my public service announcement for the day.
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Well we survived Valentine's day, got candy for the boys, an adorable outfit for Gabby and a card for Marty. I usually make him one but was just too lazy this year, we're not big on exchanging gifts on this holiday. Usually cause we're in the we're gonna have to pay taxes in a couple of months let's eat mode. I caught a couple of minutes of Regis and Kelly this am and agree with Kelly that Valentine's Day is more for those that aren't married. If you're married isn't every day supposed to be Valentine's Day? OOOPS!!!! I almost choked as I was laughing.

Am I brave enough?

One of the scrapping sites I frequent is having an open call for a couple new design team members. My first thought is 'oh cool, I'd like to try that out'. My second thought is 'wow, am I good enought to even try that'? Now I don't have great expectations of actually getting on the team but I am a little amazed at how much just the serious thought of submitting has intimidated me. I'm thinking that this may end up being a creative and personal turning point. A personal challenge to face those fraidy cat demons that poke up their ugly heads every once in awhile. And just the thought of writing an essay on why I think I would be a good choice for the team makes me break out in a sweat. (Don't tell the boys, they hate when I assign them essays. I always ask them why they're making a big deal of it when essays are a piece of cake). How do I promote myself while retaining some sembelance (I know I spelled that wrong) of humility? This is almost as bad as when I had to work on my personal testimony for a bible study I did years ago - although I can still tell you what a difference God has made in my life in under 3 minutes - Marty never could make it under three minutes.
So I'm thinkin that maybe I need the challenge of just submitting, letting go, take a step off the edge (like Indiana Jones did while trying to find the grail), give myself a good creative shot in the butt...........and who knows just maybe...................................

Another weekend gone by

It's Sunday night, almost Monday morning and I'm not ready for another week to start. I worked the lunch shift today so it kinda threw my whole day off. I'm sure I'll be confused all week cause i was at work on Sunday.
Had a small hair color mishap last night. The color my hair turned out isn't what the picture on the box looks like. this is the first time that's ever happened. I'm more of a light brown now instead of a blonde. Marty doesn't like it. I could probably get used to it, but did I mention that Marty doesn't like it? Oh and by the way Marty doesn't...........you get the picture. So I took some of my hard earned tip money and bought a blonde box hoping that my hair will look like the picture. I think I'll do that tomorrow cause Marty............

I've been working on my b-l-o-g, all the live long day.

So today I've got financial boxes, records, receipts, checkbooks, lists, pens, pencils, my calculator & assorted beverages spread out on the dining room table. I'm compiling, gathering, calculating and other ing things stuff and finally settling down so we can get to the CPA and have our taxes done. I'm the bookkeeper for our business so it's not just a matter of gathering all our W-2's and filling in the blanks with turbo tax (although that is a recuring dream of mine, fast, simple and getting money back from the government).
Having said all that I've been taking breaks throughout the day. I call them breaks but they could really be called avenues of escape. I diligently work for awhile then the newest issue of Scrapbook Answers catches my eye. I drag myself back to the pile of bills that need my attention then decided that I need to check my e'mail. Did I forget to mention that the laptop is also on the dining room table? Then it's supper time, it won't make itself you know. Fortunately we have a nice island to eat around.
Back to the table top of doom. Then I remember that I haven't checked out my favorite blogs today. After which I decide that I'm tired of how mine looks and I must spend some time on it RIGHT NOW. I know, I know my priorities are all wrong. Shouldn't all that business stuff take precedence? R-i-g-h-t......the mile high table will still be here tomorrow, I really don't need to know yet how much we'll owe ole Uncle Sam right away do I? Now if I can just explain to Marty how compliling all that information is just taking longer that I thought it would. The business did grow this year. Hmmmmm.................................

Hop, skip & a jump

A quickie today (hop, skip & jump, all quick things right?). I've had better weeks, made a few mistakes that can be corrected but will cost. Still am not feelin up to snuff, or sniff depending on how your nose is working. I did start on a CUTE little photo album that will fit inside an altered altoids tin. I'm using some of the new Daisy D's paper and I L-O-V-E how it's turning out. Just have to add a few embellishments, copy & print pictures then finish putting it all together. I should have it done this weekend and will post some pics.

I've had better weekends

I had the wonderful cold/flu that's been making the rounds this weekend. Didn't feel like doing ANYTHING, laid in bed sleeping and watching TV. What a drag. No fun at all. EWWWWW. Had the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, achy head, fever type stuff. I was a walking (okay, laying down) Nyquil commercial. Finally felt like taking a shower today, a very good thing let me tell you. The boys were hoping I'd still be sick enough not to do school tomorrow. r-i-g-h-t . I have to be dying not to do school (have been close a couple of times, ha). You will notice that I've been using the word HAD quite often here. At this point I'm using the power of positive thinking to ensure that I'm ready to crawl farther than the kitchen and bathroom tomorrow. I did feel well enough to gather Ben & Tom's W-2's toghether but thought it might be better to actually do their taxes when I didn't have a fever of 102. The IRS might not be forgiving of a misplaced decimal point made during a fever induced haze. Then sat in my studio and thought about what I wanted to do to a couple of layouts to get them finished up. Again the fever induced haze stopped me from doing anything. Well I'm off to take my nightly doze of Nyquil, just the thought of drinking it down makes me shiver I've always hated the stuff but it does the job. TTFN

A teary eyed night

I was instant messaging my friend Margaret in China and got misty eyed missing her. Then as I was checking out my favorite blogs I read Rosemary's birthday letter to her mom that is no longer with her. I'm sniffing and wiping at this point. On comes a commercial for the one chopper show (where the dad always yells at everyone as they are re-doing bikes) and the next show is about this guy who sold his bike to help when his mom had cancer and the yelling dad and sons are custom building a bike for him. Tears dropping at this point. But what really made me cry was the come hither look Marty gave me as he stepped out of the bathroom in his sweats. Okay I was laughing so hard I was crying. The sweats were pulled up to his chest, very nerdy, not sexy. But a good laugh.
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I've been surfing tonight. Checking out all these crotcheting sites. looking for the perfect pattern (that's easy) for the perfect tote. Think I found one I like now I just need to get the yarn. I keep giving away my projects before I get a picture of them. I've done a bunch of scarves and some caps too, really I have. There's just not visual proof.

The restraunt blues

Those who work in any capacity in the restraunt business know that during January & February we sing the blues. As in "everybody got their holiday credit card bills and can't afford regular food let alone prime USDA choice cut steak' blues. Oh mamma were we slow the last two nights. Both nights we had 7 tables all night. Both nights the same measley tips, lets just say that I won't be buyin nothin fancified for meals this week. Makes me really appreciate that $28/hour I made New Years Eve even more. But we were talking about how great our job really is. When we're busy we run our tails off and usually don't have time for a break till we close (I work the evening shift). But when we're slow, like tonight as long as we have our chores done, make sure what customers we have are taken care of and do a little extra then we can take it easy. I had bought a paper before work so we did the Sudoku puzzle (my newest addiction) and some cross words.
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I'm gearin up to go crop on Saturday. I'm actually planning ahead (the moon must be in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars ( a little 60's flashback, I was 9). I've been printing up some pictures and gathering supplies. I usually wait till about 20 minutes before I have to go and I'm just throwing everything in my bags. Something is definetely up, next thing I know I'll have whole layouts pre-planned, each placed in their own page protectors with all the embellishments chosen too. No, that would mean the world was coming to an end, then where would we all be? Hmmmmmm, is it time for a deep philisophical discussion? Nah!!!! that would just hurt too much.

Everybody sing

I sing barbershop harmony with a great group of ladies. Every Tuesday night from 5:15 to 7:00 30 or so women get together and we sing, sing, sing. It's hard to stay down when you sing. We come from all walks of life. A judge, couple of the girls own a bookstore a few more work there, a few work at banks, got some nurses, teachers, stay at home moms, clerks, retired ladies, one photographer, one girl in radio, some who work in offices and at least one waitress :) Our fearless leader is Bruce who works with the post office. He has a gift, he can be in a room full of women and still stay in control (well most of the time). We all love to sing. Tonight we started working on a couple of new songs. I'm ALWAYS amazed at how horrible we can sound the first time through a song. But by the time we're ready to sing in front of a crowd we're like angels. We all pay (dues) for the joy of singing and to tell the truth we're pretty darn good. We've had some ladies that sing in competitions tell us we could do quite well doing that, but that's not for us at this point. We like to sing in the spring during the men's show. Sing in the summer at local churches and sing in November at our own show. Some have very wonderful voices and sing solos or in a quartet, others really need the group in order to be brave enough to sing (although their voices are just as wonderful). I never considered singing as a hobby until two years ago when the director of the men's group described it that way. It's something I totally enjoy, I'm not to bad at and I can share with others, yup that's a hobby.
There are many times I am reminded of my choir director in high school. He was a very tempermental artistic type (he broke many batons after getting frustrated and beating on the podium). But he gave me a good basis for this hobby that I'm enjoying so much at this point in my life.
So sing, sing, sing it can't hurt and will usually help.

I LOVE BLOGS

Yes I love blogs. I'm not ashamed to admit that I like peeking into other peoples lives. Seeing what they like to eat. How they spent their weekend. Looking at their scrap spaces. Reading about their joys and sorrows. I've been encouraged, challenged and I sometimes LAUGH OUT LOUD, drives my family nuts they NEVER see the humor. So here's to whoever thought up this idea. I first heard of it watching the now defunct show 'The Screen Savers' on that used to be 'Tech TV' the channel that has been taken over by a bunch of teeny boppers (can you tell I'm not happy with said teeny boppers?).
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Mold update: Got home from the Christmas party last night with enough alcohol in my body to be able to face the mold (which isn't actually that much alcohol, but I'm a light weight when it comes to drinking). I tossed and sanitized. I love glad ware, I can now toss leftovers and their scary containers too. Another great invention, Press & Seal. If you've never tried it you need to. A woman must have been on the team that came up with this one. After our Christmas dinner at my sister-in-laws while we were putting food away Linda mentioned that she picked up a butt load of Press and Seal really cheap at a store closing. My eyes must have lit up cause she pulled one out and 'presented' it to me saying she was willing to sacrifice one for my happiness. I love my sister-in-law. Having said that my fridge is now clean.
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I think I've been rambling enough, hopping down the blog bunny trail can be very tiring.

Of scrapping and mold

Well I resisted the call of the mold in the inner recesses of the fridge yesterday and instead cleaned out our hot tub which we are getting ready to sell. Love it but never use it, it takes up lots of room and we could use some extra moola right now. I decided that draining it out on a 50 degree day is much better than waiting till it's -10 out. Yes I actually thought ahead a little. I figured the fridge could wait another day, or two, or three. All right I'm putting it off. One of those jobs that will only take 15 minutes but I just hate to do.
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Deb did come over last night and we did scrap and we did have fun and we did eat chocolate. She finished off a bunch of pages and started a couple more. I finally found my scrapping mojo and got a couple of pages done and am ready to do some more today. She's the first person that has come to play in my new studio. I found I'm really happy with the set up. I may move a couple of things but we could actually have room for at least one more person or more if I could figure out a way to have a table set up over the spare bed. Hmmmm I'll just have to talk to the carpenter husband of mine.
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We have our work Christmas party tonight. It's pretty casual so should be relaxing. And we'll get some good eats.

It's 11:17 am, on a Saturday morning. I'm praying that no one comes to the door, that I don't have to make a trip into town, I just want to cocoon in the house today. Maybe I'll venture outside - it is supposed to get up into the 50's and it is January in Nebraska so it would probably be a weather related sin not to enjoy it somehow. My friend Deb might come over to scrap tonight. She's the type of friend you don't have to clean your house for, the good kind, the accepting kind. Although I do NEED to clean the house. Wil thinks that since I cleaned it last week I shouldn't have to clean it this week. I kinda like that philosophy but I know he just doesn't want to have to help. On my list of MUST do's today is cleaning the fridge. There are some interesting smells wafting out whenever the door is opened. I'm sure something in there is aged to perfection, science experiment of mold type perfection. Maybe I should break out the bottle of Asti that's been in the back for a couple of years (a gift from friends that didn't realize we really don't like sparkling wine). I may need the fortification to tackle the job though.

I was a happy camper last night. The SciFi channel had all new episodes of it's SciFi Friday line-up. Poor Marty, here I was all comfy on the couch, with my snacks, yarn, crochet hook & remote control. He comes in, sits on the other couch and is all ready to visit. I gave him a 'look' which he didn't seem to understand. I then have to resort to 'shushing' him. That worked for a few minutes. He waits patiently for a commercial, we had an intelligent deep two minute conversation and the show comes back on. He kept talking. I then had to spell it out. "I've waited 3 months to see if the Gallactica and the Pegusus are going to destroy each other instead of their mutual enemies the Cylons I can't talk right now oh love of my life". Alright maybe that's what I should have said. I may have actually said something to the effect that the show's on, shut up. He got off the couch in a huff and said he was going to bed. I may be in the dog house. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings. I'm not always Mrs. sensativity. We'll see when he gets home today. should I send him flowers?????????? HA, HA.

I must be off, I hear the mold in the fridge calling to me.

I like this Mark Twain quote:
Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, I can dream ALL I want but there's not white stuff this year. It got up to 50 yesterday and will be in the 40's all weekend. Oh well, most of the world doesn't ever have a white Christmas. I should have a palm tree for a Christmas tree. I'm watching Fox News right now and they just showed the Eifel tower all lit up for Christmas, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.
I Have soooo much to do before Sunday. Most of my Christmas cards will now be post Christmas cards as I'm still addressing and sending them. Procrastination is my middle name, really, Mom and Dad just wrote Ann on the birth certificate but when I was little it wasn't 'Carrie Ann Hahle' mom yelled when I was in trouble, it was 'Carrie Pro-Cras-tin-Ation Hahle'. Maybe I exagerate a little but I've always put things off till after the last minute, and I usually got lots of grace.
May the Peace of Christ find a place in your hearts.

Fer sure, like, fer sure

I love the muppet show! So when I checked out Rosemary's blog today and she had which muppet she should be I had to try it. Think it pegged me pretty good, except for the stoned part, it's just a natural reaction to my blonde hair that makes me seem that way.


You are Janice.
You dig the groove man, nothing can bum you out.
Too bad you're too stoned to notice.

INSTRUMENT:
Like, you know, guitar, fer sure.
LAST BOOK READ:
"Finding Your Past Lives on the Web"

FAVORITE EXPRESSION:
"Fer sure, like, fer sure."

FAVORITE THINGS:
Peace, love and, like, granola, totally.

NEVER LEAVES HOME WITHOUT:
Her inner child.


What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Going to get my Christmas cards done today, no matter how late I have to stay up. One less cookie on my plate.

I've also been inspired by my SWS girlfriends to crochet again, gonna go pick up a little yarn today to make a couple of scarves for presents.

The cards are calling so I better get busy. Thanks for checking out my blog.

No backside shots!

I'll admit it, I'm vain. And I can usually live in the dream world I've created that I have a perfect body and don't need to loose a few pounds. Then reality smacks me in the face. I 'finally' run the thanksgiving pic disk that Marty made for me - that can't be what my butt looks like in my favorite jeans. But(t) the camera doesn't lie, everyone else looks like they do in real life so that must be what I look like from behind. So I'm gonna have to devote myself to getting to the gym AT LEAST 3 times a week. I've been slacking off lately, living in my deceptive la la land has led me to think I don't need to work out. I've got to lay off the hershey kisses (that cute little bowl on my craft table will just have to sit empty. No more 'real' Dr. Pepper. When we have those to die for bread sticks at work I won't be able to dip them in alfredo sauce. I MUST get rid of that guy in the mirrow that says I 'have the perfect body of them all'.
I've picked a wonderful time of the year to 'see' myself. MODERATION must be my word of the month, my montra.

We were scrooged!

Last night at work I had a table of three that were just a little strange from the get go. You could tell they had been drinking before they came in. One guy was this little short bald dude, not that I have anything against little short bald dudes but he sat down with an 'attitude'. He was upset cause he couldn't smoke (we went to non-smoking last month). Then we didn't have the beer he wanted, and surprise, surprise he didn't really like what he ordered but ate it anyway. The other guy thought he was god's gift. The lady with them wasn't too bad but kept hitting guy # 2 I kept waiting for him to hit her back but he showed some good restraint. When we went to clean the table off we found they had stolen the salt & pepper shakers, the sugar packets, some silverware & the little table top Christmas tree. It still gets me a little hot. But then there was that other table that were so nice and greatful for 'everything', it all balances out in the scale of life right?
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Son #1 will be done with his training on Friday. Wil & I are going to head out Thurs to pick him up after his graduation Fri am. It will be good to have all the chicks back in the same area.
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Christmas is less than two weeks away! ACKKKKKKK!!! I'm not ready, I'm not ready. The next couple of days I need to get the Christmas cards done and sent. I always enjoy making them. It has been nice the last week getting greetings from families and friends. I'm a horrible correspondant (over the years I had a couple of romances go down the tubes cause I hate to
write). I have made it a point then to at least get news out once a year. It's always good to look back and think about the year as I do my 'little' letter. I always wonder if it's worth doing it but I really like getting those 'letters' from everyones else. So I sit down and try to compact a years worth of our life onto a page and make it at least half way interesting.
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Have a Christmas party to go to tonight. It's one of those I could easily just miss but probably need to go so feelings don't get hurt. At least Marty doesn't have to come, he would hate it.
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Do give books - religious or otherwise - for Christmas. They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.

Lenore Hershey

I've already decided to give Gabby books for gifts, besides the fact that she has tons of toys I want her to have a love for reading as she grows up. That quote I just found kind of firms up my resolve. Okay, if I'm totally honest I'll go to Baby Gap too.

Have a good one!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

BRRRRRR!!!!! Our high today is a whopping 2 degrees. With the 'wind-chill-factor' it's like -11. We have the wood stove stoked up to the gills and the space heater in the living room so I can be warm doing book work. Marty is home today since it's too cold to do much work, so that means I'm getting half the amount of work done that I need to. We're going to visit our accountant tomorrow to talk finances for the business so I have balance sheets, financial statments and income and expense reports in my immediate future. Decided I needed a blog break.
My shopping expedition on Friday was a success. Got Wil's Bday presents and a couple of Chrismas presents along with a scrapping mag (Scrapbook Answers my new fav) 3 pieces of paper and some honking huge brads. I was very proud of my self restraint at the LSS. I did break down and by some whitening strips for my teeth, they are getting very coffee stained. They're gross but I guess that's the price you pay for vanity.
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I tried uploading some pics of the bookmarks I made but so far I'm not seeing them. Anyhoo I traded them in for credit at The Book Clinic and got Gabby a couple of fun baby books. I decided I'm gonna be her book sugar g-momma. So if you see an empty little box on the blog click it and you may see some book marks, they're cool and funky if I do say so myself.
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I NEED to do some excercising, haven't been to the wellness center for a month, good money down the drain. I'm starting to feel jiggly, like jello. Now it's a good thing for Jello to be jiggly but not my tummy and thighs. EWWWWWWWW.
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We've informed the kids that they'll have to lower their Christmas expectations some this year. At first Pat and Wil were a little gripy, but then seemed to take it in stride and started revamping their lists. It's not such a big thing with Ben and Tom. Guess I'll have to work on making it more memorable and meaningful than packageful (I know that's not a word but it fits my thought train).

I hear the balance sheet calling my name
Debits and credits are pulling at my brain
Income and expenses can kinda get me down.
I guess tomorrow we gotta go to town.

Okay I won't quit my night job to write song lyrics.

Starting my Christmas shopping

Okay, I'm not one of those people that has all her shopping done by now, nope I'm a dedicated procrastinator. Not only in this area but in all of my life, drives Marty crazy. He's a planner and gets stuff done ASAP. Opposites do attract. Back to shopping. So today is the day I begin. I drive 45 min. to get to my major shopping centers so it's a big thing for me. I'm planning the initial attack by making my list, deciding where to go first and then sticking to it. It's always hard to bypass ALLLLL those other stores I want to go to...Linen & Things, Bath & Body Works, Barnes & Nobel. I do get to go to the scrapbook store cause I'm getting something for Jamie (I still sigh when thinking of having a daughter in law who loves to scrapbook) but I have to practice great inner strength and not buy for myself....can I do it? Time will tell.
Wil's birthday is tomorrow, yes my baby is gonna be 14, so I have his list for that too.
So I'm off, here's to some self restraint and finding good bargains

Taking a big breath

What a hectic couple of weeks I've had. I've become one of those people that I gripe about 'i can't believe they haven't posted on their blog for so loooong'. I should know by now that you NEVER get down on anyone for anything cause it will ALWAYS come back to bite you on the butt. So tonight I'm spending some quality time with all my rowdy friends. Okay, it's just me but I'm watching Monday Night Football with millions of my closest football loving friends (again I ask myself, how do I end up with a house full of men and not ONE likes to watch football?). Payton Manning is such a little cutie.
So what have been doing for the last 20 days?
*The weekend of the 12th I took Pat out to my folks so he could do a little deer hunting, yes we have some venison in our freezer.
*The ladies barbershop chorus I sing with (The Belles A'Peelin) had our 2nd annual show on Saturday the 19th so the week before that was spent practicing and decorating. I also had my carpets cleaned that week so I had to do some cleaning before they were cleaned, never made much sense to me but my good buddy Steve the carpet cleaner insists I vacume BEFORE he cleans the carpets.
*Then last week was spent cooking and cleaning (some more) and getting ready for Thanksgiving. My family came for a few days and a good time was had by all.
*Yesterday - Sunday - I literally crashed, did nothing whatsoever allllll day.
*Today I spent some quality time in my craft room. Started working on some Chrismas presents. I also sell bookmarks that I make to our local book store and started making some more to drop off this week. If you're ever in Nebraska City you MUST drop in and visit the ladies at The Book Clinic, one of the most wonderful little book stores you'll ever run across.
*I've given myself permission to put off my Christmas decorating till this weekend. Usually have it done by this time but I NEEDED to take a BIG BREATH after the last couple of weeks.
*Haven't shared any words of wisdom from Mr. Clemons lately so I thought I'd close with this....Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.