Good morning!

Mog called from Hawaii today...says it's beautiful there and she's loving it. The drugs that got her on the plane in the first place took 24 hours to wear off though, so today she'll try island-hopping un-medicated.

If you knew Mog, you'd be chuckling too.


Phred just called to say she's stopping here tomorrow morning and she expects fresh coffee and home-made cinnamon or caramel rolls. I bake bread all the time, but have rarely tried sweet rolls. I guess today's the day.

Watch this space for pictures, ok?








Later: Hmm, it's pretty easy. The recipe calls for raising overnight in the fridge, so that's where they are right now. With any luck, I'll remember to get a pic in the morning before we tear into them...lol)

Wednesday morning--Hey, I remembered:






Mmmm-mmm. They were a hit and Phred laughed.
That's all I wanted.
This afternoon, I'll make a batch with nuts.


(BTW, this is the FUN of blogging--posting whatever comes along just for shits and giggles).

Did you know?

A bit more computer dinkin' around here:
(This is a step beyond changing the colors or wallpaper, but not by much)
...when you click the "tools" button up there and select "internet options", one choice you have is to 'delete cookies'.
Well, if you click that, your cursor becomes an hourglass while the computer labors to dump the contents of the cookie jar in the trash, right?
Au contraire, Pollyanna.
I did it the other day and then looked at my cookie FILE--there were still 3,285 cookies listed. NOW we're talking tedious.

(Oh, and another fun fact? Visitor number 5000 was someone from Texas looking for peony flower arrangements).

Just thought you'd like to know........

4,995

(We ARE getting close to 5,000 visitors, hm? )

Here's the sign near R&D's lake to warn people about Al:

(So, water-skiing IS allowed?)

Florida Charm

Just think: R just called from Tampa to tell me about something he'd just taken a picture of--something that was still there, basking in the sun near their house. In moments, he'd up-loaded the picture and I had it here in Minnesota....THIS is Al E. Gator, one of resident wildlife in the small lake behind all the houses in their neighborhood.

Damn cute, huh?

And you wonder why I love ice and snow? Ewww! (What's so amazing is that Al is probably STILL sitting right there, right this minute!)

4,984

Just to indicate to you how extremely popular this blog is...see that number in the title?
Perhaps it's the total visitors sent by the obscure link on J-walk last week, or it's total repeat visits from PT....or people from other nations around the world mis-guidedly checking on "Flower Arranging"?

Nope, none of the above. While I've had 8,305 'hits', that number up there is my grand total of people who've actually spent more than 1 second here since October, 2004.

But just think, YOU could be #5,000 if you play your cards right.

Hoppy Birdie Two Ewes!

Bring out the lemon flavored cake, it's Anon P.T's birthday! I'll have to call-and-sing later, but right now I'll post the most recent photo of her, ok?

Hope you're having this much fun today, too! (And, in your honor, not ONE lol will be used on this post.) You're welcome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, P.T.!

Thoughts about dipping my toe in Genealogy

*Wow, this family search thing should be fun/daunting/frustrating/entertaining/enlightening.

*Thing is, I'm about to become a grandma, so "roots" seem more interesting right now...lol

*Entering data into a computer genealogy program is certainly overwhelming.

*My Dad's family is better documented than I thought, and I have gobs of info on my Mom's family.

*I want there to be orderly family pictures of the rellys, but of course there aren't...and pictures I thought I had already stored on this computer aren't there.

*Still, computer programs make the whole process more managable and orderly, right?
*........aaargh.

Saturday morning

Another lovely sunrise here in the frozen north. It's -13 and yesterday's wind has blown past us, evidently.
I'm having breakfast with Shari at Kay's Kitchen this morning, then we're coming back here to install genealogy software on my computer...I suppose I should vacuum in here. (There's no hope for the rest of the mess...it's set up for my convenience and it's a small room. I did mini-vac the occasional cobweb from the ceiling, ok?) I keep thinking of other "favorite people" I should have posted yesterday--here are two:
(PS: I'd truly love to post Niecephews here, but my most current pictures are about 15 years old..AHEM! Abe needs some current pics, ok?)


Yes, I KNOW...I'll go vacuum now.
xoxo

Some of my favorite people

Contest wrap-ups, finally!

In a not-so-subtle comment under yesterdays post, I was reminded that I haven't eased your minds about the questions I posed last week. Awww!
All right then...here they are:
The only KittyRock that does NOT glow in the dark is the one on the far right, with the pink face and navy-pattern body. Patsy's Daughter won the contest by virtue of being the ONLY guesser. Her KittyPrize is being sent today, ok?


As for the "What does this have to do with me?" article, were you aware that Mary Magdalen is a saint? And on top of that, she'd be my patron saint if I was still Catholic?
My nativity story, as told by Mom, was that I was baptised on a very hot Sunday morning in August by a fledgling priest who intended to "do this right". When he asked for my name, he shook his head and said it was NOT a saints name. He stopped the proceedings and went to "the Big Book of Saints" (while everybody stood around sweating), and found a suitable saint that I could aspire to. Maybe he was thinking of all the November 1st dress-as-your-saint parades I'd have to endure in grade school, but he personally saved me from dressing as any random flawless object. (Marlys="Mar-less", get it?) The nuns would not have been amused.

SO, I was baptised "Magdalena Linda". Patron saint: Mary Magdalen, the reformed _ _ _ _ _. The fact has always tickled me.

The article from the New Yorker is HERE , and now the mystery is solved, right? You can go about your weekend relieved.

(BTW, I've been advised that "P.T." answered THIS contest, and yes, she did...but when you run two contests simultaneously and you get three answers between 'em, and one comes by e-mail...WHAT TO DO?
The irony is that the KittyPrize winner, Patsy's Daughter, sent the wrong answer...& her Kitty is in the mail already.
Besides, I figured that ALL sisters already had KittyRocks, no?)

You're welcome.

The day after

A cool quote: “ Love simplifies nothing. At the same time, it makes life interesting — and possible".
From an academic article trying again to define LOVE...

**********************
How much country music can one person tolerate? What made me chuckle in the last few days is that so MUCH of it is seems to be based on random over-heard phrases or cliches. Sheesh, "just look at all the country songs that could be written from this post alone-- "
"Love Simplifies Nothing"
"What Made Me Chuckle"
"A Random Overheard Phrase"
"Love Makes Life Interesting"
"Love Makes Life Possible"
"This Mess We're In"
"Trying To Define Love"

Arrrrrgggghhhh! I can hear the twangy chords already...

Ohmigawd, yes.....

...tonight I'm really, really tired.
WHAT was I thinking?

See ya tomorrow, ok?
xoxo

Not even ONE guess?

So, evidently no one has a clue about the mystery I posed, right?
My sisters at least should know the answer--by highlighting the 'hidden' words, you'd find a date to trace--OR, you could check the latest New Yorker....

lol...ok, I can hear you say, "s'too much work"...but I'll STILL give you a couple more days. Just hope I don't forget to post the answer altogether, hm?
*!*

Flowers before sleep

Here's a cool short video of flowers, mostly familiar ones, with some cool Greek-sounding theme music...the colors as they fly by feel like an eye-blessing, hmm?

It's cool partly because I finally got it to play tonight. (If your browser is Firefox and it doesn't play, try IE...that was the difference for me).

Here it is: The Power of the Flowers

G'night...

A mystery for you

I must be in the mood for proposing contests tonight....lol

I just read an interesting article that has a connection to me in an obscure and hidden way. I know one person who read it thought of me when he did because we've discussed the details. Three or four other people who read EF know the reference, but would never read the magazine it was in....

Need more of a hint? Here's a quote:
"As time passed, five whole bodies of *****, together with spare parts, were discovered in various locales. Her saint’s day, July 22nd, became a major holiday...Numerous professions—winegrowers, gardeners, sailors, barrelmakers, weavers—took her as their patron saint. Church after church was named after her, as were many baby girls."

Ok, WHO was this historic figure and what connection is there to me??

Two pictures and a contest for you

I really should have taken a picture of the sunrise yesterday morning.
By afternoon, it was snowing and looking like Christmas.....and
today, snow again.
This may be the kind of day that drove 3 of my sibs out of state permanently.











Would you believe me if I said I like this kind of day? lol


********************************************

Ok, picture #2 : THE CONTEST










If you can tell me correctly which of these glow-in-the-dark, I'll send you your very own KittyRock--free!
(And yes, the KittyPrize WILL glow-in-the-dark, promise.)
Have a lovely weekend!
xoxo

How Dogs and Cats came to be

Precious Daughter just sent this--made me laugh.
I have a cat.

HOW DOGS CAME TO BE:Where do pets come from?

A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the answer to "Where do pets come from?"
Adam and Eve said, "Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you any more. We are lonesome here,and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us."
And God said, I will create a companion for you that will be with you and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves."
And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.
And it was a good animal.
And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail.
And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the animals in theKingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."
And God said, " I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."
And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them.
And they were comforted.
And God was pleased.
And Dog was content and wagged his tail.
After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said,
"Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration.Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."
And God said,
"I will create for them a companion who will be with them and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration."
And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.
And Cat would not obey them.
And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.
And Adam and Eve learned humility.
And they were greatly improved.
And God was pleased
And Dog was happy.
And Cat didn't give a shit one way or the other.....

This time of year

Q: Can a florist "get out of" working a major floral holiday?

A: Probably not.

Q: Will she take her camera along to the shop?

A: Of course!

Q: Is 6:30 AM a pretty ungodly hour for her?

A: Yup.
See ya tonight.

Stamp those flowers!

Here's what I assume is a Most Disgusting American Concept being sold as a Most Venerable Chinese Artform, and it's STILL an Amazing Silly Concept, in my humble opinion.

Thanks to Fred from GoodStuff

HTML=Hope The Momentum Lasts

Whew, I've learned alot today. At first, clicking the "syntax editor" got me a LONG list of goofs, but now...well, there are less of 'em, ok?

The whole idea of coding is putsy--but amazing. Like most other electronic stuff in my life (the camera and cel phone, for instance) I learn by doing....if I get the basics down, I can build on that to figure the rest out. The camera seemed unbelievably complicated at first, but now the choices actually makes sense (and the only thing I still need to figure out about the phone is how to make that woman STOP repeating the numbers out loud as I punch 'em in....the twit even says "talk" when I make the connection).

And here in Computerland, I feel like I'm being let in on the game, ya know? I practically have the whole first page done!

Want a KittyRocks picture? This is Set 0617, just so ya know. I really like the pale eyes on the one in the middle...lol (Yup, her face glows!)

A few "Aha!" moments

Most of the time, I "think too much," I've been told.

But today, after my not-so-great experience with a "free" website host, it occurred to me that there MUST be another way...

Google to the rescue: I found a tutorial called "How to build a webpage". Duh. It instructed me to find and download an HTML editor, which I did.

Oh, man--I'm learning this at my own pace--but it's going to work, I think. It's not completely intuitive, but with a little practice I'll be able to figure it out...how COOL is that?!

OK, back to the learning process!

There are holes in my 'computer savvy'....

OK, I can code to make an address into one clickable word, and I know how to register a complaint or comment and then delete an entire website...I can even follow the instructions well enough to add links to my page, but I can't seem to undo that KittyRocks link up there!

(Ha...I figured it out after all. See? it's gone.)













This morning, dawn and cold and Jack Frost combined to create this...make sure you click the picture to enlarge it. The blues are stunning, I think. But why is there a round clear patch on the bottom right of the window? Another of lifes' mysteries, I guess...lol

Ummm, about the KittyRocks site?

If you've tried to access KittyRocks in the last day or so, you've noticed that the pictures won't show up, and the ads won't go away. No wonder.

A friend just e-mailed to say that my KittyRocks site server is loaded with spyware--that it's well known among computer types (her husband being one). SO....I'm taking the link down. I'll re-launch KittyRocks (maybe right here on Blogger) in the next few days....but this time, I'll do my homework first and check server reviews....

Sorry about all this...
Birdie

You can stop holding your breath now...

Yes, the paperwhite plant has a third blossom stock, and it's 3 above here this morning. I'm jus' saying.

But WHY? Ketchup and matches

My high-school-best-friend recently moved back to the area, and we've been stumbling down Memory Lane together lately--what she remembers compared to what I remember can be pretty funny.
She mentioned how she admired my Mom for making ketchup for the family...marveling that Mom would bother cooking and canning the worlds simplest (and cheapest!) condiment.
I don't remember the ketchup, but I DO remember two 40 foot rows of tomatoes and occasional bumper-crop years. There were only seven people in my family--WHY did we needed 30+ tomato plants?
(I assume Mom heard the ketchup recipe on WCCO--probably on Cedric Adams ?)
Face it, Mom was just desperate.

So when I read THIS article about how to make matches (?!), I thought about ketchup, ok?

Note to self:

If you love something,
Set it free...
If it comes back, it's yours,
If it doesn't, it never was yours....

Finally, a post about a flower!

A friend is starting a new blog, and when he sent me the address, this was the first post on the page...made me giggle out loud!

One Perfect Rose

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet--
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret:
`My fragile leaves,' it said, `his heart enclose'.
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

-- Dorothy Parker

The blog is called GOODSTUFF , and no doubt it will be!

Something new--Snow

Like the last 10 (or so) winters, it's been warmish here, and the whole state breathes easier once January is over. I missed the weather report last night (E was here), and this morning was surprised by a nice fresh snow-covered world.
(I know you'll care about this: I live on the corner of my street and the alley, so I have to take the big blue plastic mini-dumpster across my backyard to the 'curb'. Yesterday, there was easy-to-roll-over bare lawn there, but not now...damn.)
If all this isn't new to you (if you live in Minnesota, fer instance), have you noticed the red osier dogwood in the swamps are already brilliant? And, that all the willow trees are vibrant yellow against the snow? Wow!
(In other words, we take whatever we can get in the 'Signs of Spring' department!)

A scientific reason why Rob and I can't talk politics

It's obviously 'cuz neither of us LISTENS to the other!

Paperwhites today

See? What a joy blooming plants are, huh?
(Even alongside a dusty rack of CDs...trust me, it's been dusted now! lol)

A NEAT kitty

Sometimes one of these kittys just looks so COOL:

....and who better to share it with than YOU, Faithful Reader? Here's the size it actually is, too:

The finished kitty, just for Lemony:







(The EF remains always responsive to readers' requests...)

What's new?

Just a quick update: my paperwhite is about to bloom, and I'm working on my webpage of KittyRocks while I make more of them. Gawd, creatin' is FUN!
Ok, ok....since dear Son fixed my camera (!) here's a paperwhite picture:
















You know me--there WILL be more of these!

Bolivia

Here's a cool article about Bolivia's new president--the first ever indigenous person to be elected there. FLOWERS were an important part of his campaign and inauguration!
Thanks to Julie at Human Flower Project

Have you noticed this?

Once in awhile, there's a smell or taste or music that's so evocative, one that reminds me so much of something that I'm lost for a few seconds, shot back to another time in my life...

For me, the smell of broom straw...bean soup cooking...sawdust...a hot attic...fresh gas and cigarette smoke....crayons...marigolds...dry firewood..new doll plastic....fresh tar on the street....take me to 434, the first house I remember living in.

The taste of anise and boiled eggs and dried apricots are primal for me (not to mention the memory of cod liver oil. I can conjure that bitterness in the back of my throat right now...ack.) I haven't eaten Cheerios in years, but that's a childhood flavor, too, with as much sugar as I could sneak into the bowl...lol

Last night, I had a 50's radio station on on the computer. It would have been the music that Mom listened to on WCCO radio when I was a preschooler.
No specific memory came back except for the image of the curtains in the living room at 434...a cross between these two, sorta:



Yup, huge open flowers on burgandy...the music did THAT?? lol

Then, this morning, I was checking my favorite blogs, and I clicked on this link from the Presurfer blog:

"Marla Olmstead is an abstract painter......Marla enjoys reading, cooking and gymnastics but is at her most joyful and expressive before the canvas.

Marla Olmstead is 5 years old".

Now THAT music is a more recent and has much sweeter memories!

xoxo

Question

So, I'm making KittyRocks alot lately . I keep the computer "radio" on for entertainment and Yahoo IM for 'just in case'...but I make myself get outside every day, even for a short time, ya know?

Daud'll be here tomorrow night (this semester it's Tuesday nights) and Wednesday I'll run down to Son's house to see if he can fix my camera. (He thinks it probably needs cleaning. I hope he's right...lol)

(Quick update: It really pays to have a son who's a skilled engineer. He took it apart and now it works just fine. THANK YOU, J! xoxo)

What's the question, then? Well, it's a series of them, actually:

• Do you have Yahoo Instant Messenger installed on your computer?
• Do you like to play Scrabble?
• Would you consider playing the Yahoo version ocassionally with a person with clay on her hands and glitter on her mind?
• (What's a blog for if ya can't ask for something like this, huh?)

(I haven't played Literati since Christmas day, and I'm having withdrawal symptoms....my VERY favorite partner seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, so if you don't mind being second best, let me know, ok? My e-mail address is over there, under my picture.....)

LOL.....Thanks!

(Another quick note: FavPartner IM'd yesterday, and beat me....again ! It's ok....I'll win next time, maybe. lol)

Today's the day!

Ok, you can both breathe again...yes, I've decided to try
~~~~Glittering a KittyRock~~~~
(Aren't tildes cute?)
Beyond the question of "How much will glitter improve a kittyrock?", I've worried that you might not be able to SEE it glow-in-the-dark under the glitter...but, not to worry, the stuff I'm using is more like a sugar coating--teeny tiny glass balls.
(BTW, the close-up function on my camera doesn't work (damn!) so this will have to do for now. Still, you'll get the idea).

The experimental kitty...the forerunner, the trail blazer, the sacrificial lamb!

Oooooo! I LOVE it! (Are you really surprised? lol)

Still, I think I'll charge ALOT more for a GlitterKitty....no doubt it'll be incredibly popular, right?

(Later: Well, those tiny glass balls pretty much cover the glow in the dark parts (except for the face), and the very reason I have it is BECAUSE it comes off fairly easily...it came from 'sugared grapes' at the shop and what I have is what I swept off my counter there...lol

So: SheddingGlitterKittys?

Possible big seller, or 'um...no?')

Refreshing

Every once in awhile, I change the color of my e-mail page and my Windows...it's like a new paint job, or like I added glitter, ya know?

Try it, you'll like it!

Webpages?

Have you ever wondered HOW to go about setting up a webpage? Right, I hadn't either, before this week.
Then there's the issue of a "domain name"--an address on the worldwide web that ALWAYS brings a surfer to your site...is it necessary? And, is it a matter of "first one who wants it"? or, do you need to buy it, and from whom?
I found out that the name-I-want dot COM is twice the price of the name-I-want dot BIZ for a year...(we're talking $19.95 vs. $7.99...lol)...so is it a worthwhile investment? And why is that company authorized to SELL it?

Anyway, I have a webpage started through a free site (yes I CAN opt for their premium services eventually thank gawd) and once it's ready, YOU'LL be the first to know, promise.

That oughta thrill the pants offa both a' you...

Words found under the pasta machine

Downstairs in my former "craft room", I had my clay stored neatly and well. It was protected from the air with plastic wrap and stowed in a plastic shoebox. No sweat.
My pasta machine, however, was still clamped to the table....right where I'd used it last. (No, it's never been used on FOOD, and never will be used for anything but clay, ok? Umm, it has impossible-to-remove clay-turds inside).
When I unscrewed the clamp and lifted the thing, I discovered a list I'd forgotten about:

"Words that are Written but Seldom Spoken"

Whoo-whee! Exciting, huh? How can I NOT share it with you?

Taut
Copse
Inchoate
Eschew
Accidie
(I know, that last one? It means sloth or torpor. Two more for the list!)
Sloth
Torpor
Oeuvre

Ok, do you have any to add?

I need your opinion, ok?

I have the first new crop of KittyRocks ready to glaze, and I'm debating this in my head:
I've always signed the bottom of each one with my initials, adding a star if it glows in the dark. Then, I've added the year...like 95 or 96. 'Course now they'd say 06...so, does that make the ones I have in the garage "old stock" or just "vintage"? lol...does 95 strike you as a "collectable", or just ancient history?
I NEED feedback here, ok?
Thanks!

Whew

I'm very left-handed, ok?
It's 4:30 AM, and I'm up 'cuz my RIGHT hand woke me by tingling and throbbing...lol I'm here waiting for the aspirin to kick in...

This just in from a friend in Florida:
What's round and red, and whispers?

A hoarse raddish...

Ba-dum-bump!!

Sensory overload

LOL...my hands are stiff and a little swollen this morning. The palms especially feel like they've been spanked, but I know going back to the clay today'll help. That, and aspirin......

When I worked in the silk department, I needed breaks because there was simply so MUCH to choose from in there. When I looked around at the colors and textures and possibilities, I couldn't make a coherent decision about 'what next?' so I needed to get away for a few minutes to sort it out in my head. (Really, the cig was just an excuse...lol)

Now, I have all this clay to play with again, and I don't know where to start. I bought a pound of black, a pound+ of white and seven more regular blocks of colors...so what's the problem? LOL....waaaay too many choices!

And, I'm finding that old canes are too stiff to use as they are...but I have a trick or two to try before I abandon them.

I'll report back later--I know you can't wait to hear, but just remember how MUCH you enjoy delayed gratification, ok?

********************
Later: Sheesh...sometimes what seems like a great idea at the time turns out weird...lol I stacked an old, reduced and flattened cane with white, then cut it lengthwise and re-stacked it with more white on the outside. Should be cool, huh? But I just can't use this one:










Thing is, it has glow-in-the-dark in it, so I'll just re-work it somehow...
BTW, my hands are much better now, thanks
xoxo

Oooooo!

Looking at the pictures below TICKLES me!

New/Old fun!

Whew!
I wondered if six year old polymer clay would be too stiff to 'work'--but I only had to pitch the chunk of white. And, I did have to sand a little rust off my pasta machine. Gawd.

Here's the re-constituted clay I have left, and yes, some of it did need a touch of baby oil to make it workable--do you care? lol
The range of colors are curious, hmm? But I realized that what's left here were my least favorite colors, in inverse proportions--I love bright primary colors, metallics and glow-in-the-dark, blues, greens, oranges, pinks and the contrast of black and white...lol

OK, is there a color I don't like??

Below are the canes I made back then, and they seem to still be 'sliceable'--if not, they'll join that fat ugly colored log (left above--my scrap clay, used for...ahh, that's a secret ...)

Yeah, those are face-canes down in front. Once you've build one , you've invested so MUCH clay in it that you end up with yards of the thing. These are mere shadows of their former selves...lol

Now, I'm off to the craft store to buy some GOOD colors!

Creativity

If you're here, you sorta consider yourself a "creative person", right? Not necessarily a creative floral person, but someone with an interest in making something cool, whatever it is.

I'm curious: are there times when you're bursting with the need to create, and then other times when you couldn't care less?

When I worked in the little flower shop, my daily contact with flowers and silks and paint and dried stuff wasn't enough for me, so I did crafts in the evenings--salt clay, cornhusk dolls, sewing, grapevine wreaths, drying flowers, and eventually polymer clay beads and wall hangings and...cats.

Every one of them sold well at shops and craft sales and music fests, but it was the pleasure of making things that really thrilled me: the idea that I could come up with a better material to use for a body for the dolls, or figure out how to make my own tools for the clay, ya know? And that other people liked what I made even more than I did! It was disgustingly satisfying.

Then, I went to work at the big shop. I had 10 times as much to play with there, and 20 times as many customers to buy it. That was pretty satisfying, too.
But eight hours a day of Creativity stripped my 'evening craft urge' completely away.
My last projects from 6 years ago have been gathering dust downstairs all this time.

But ya know what? The creative urge is BACK!
It's been bubbling up in me for weeks, trying to get my attention

....and I finally (finally!) noticed only yesterday...lol

Why not haul it up here to my office and start again?
AND, why not put together a website to sell what I make?

YES I'll need to make a trip to the northshore as soon as possible this spring....(hooray!)....anybody wanna go with me?

BTW, here's what I'll be making more of:










(No glitter yet, but some DO glow-in-the-dark...lol)

It's 7:12 AM...not even dawn yet. The coffee's brewing so I'll be more lucid soon.....
I feel this obligation to write something so that both of you know I haven't fallen off the planet.

Have you ever had the feeling that all's RIGHT with your world? Yeah, money's tight, but it's ok. I'm getting by, and when I admit that I'm not working and "on unemployment", the most startling people say, "Yeah, that was the best time in my life!" or, "I really enjoyed those months. It was such a gift"....

I'm beginning to understand.

I'm discovering my personal 'default settings': I wake up around 6 every day without an alarm. After watching the sunrise with my toast and coffee, I wait til I'm hungry before I have lunch. Sometimes that's 2PM. There really is a natural 'low' time in the afternoon (and yes, sometimes I NAP then.)

Traffic on the highway this time of day is mostly frantic people heading to work, with a travel mug and business clothes and a name tag. I'm thrilled, for now, not to be one of them.

Now I have a respite from it, and I look back at a 38 year blur of activity every day....scrambling to be out there...be on time...get it done...what about the wedding...do we have the right roses....will I have time...can we make it work....? Argh.

When I'm in a store or other business, I see various people who work there and think: how did she get that job? Does he like what he's doing? Would I be happy doing that? Could I do that, too?
LOL...for now, it's all academic. I'll be back, but not yet...

The Holidays

Ahhh, it's so sweet NOT being in the shop today. And yes, it very much still feels like Christmas to me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Excellent flower photos

A friend sent me this link. If you like stunning close-ups of flowers, click HERE.

How do YOU take orders?

Hi!
I visited another flower shop today. The order pad on the counter made me wonder what method they used to indicate the order was already done--you know, once the order is filled--did they list what was used? Did they initial it? Did they 'slash' it?

Amazingly, we used all three in the shops where I've worked.

A diagonal line through an order meant it was done and ready to go. At the bottom of the slash were the designers' initials and on the back was a quick list of what was used--not necessarily numbers, but I always began the list with whatever I used most of--so it might read "dk r roses, volken, yel alstro/solidago, kermits, myrtle, leather...glass" Any other florist reading that could picture the arrangement!