Lullabyes for an Insomniac

It snowed last night!!!!!!
I woke up to a beautiful sight. So surprising... I knew it might snow, but when snow is forecast around here, it usually means a dusting but there's a few inches this morning, so everything is covered. So pretty. The dogs didn't care for it.


I met Mike P at Fridays yesterday evening-for a drink. It turned into a 6 hour dinner date. Very unexpected, as I have never thought of him as more than a fun acquaintance. I had a lovely time, great conversation, lots of laughs. We found that we both love cereal for supper and have had some similar experiences. He has asked if I would go out on a date with him and I said yes.  He is interesting and an undemanding companion. However, he is a Yankees fan. That's bad....

It's good timing, as far as starting to date again, as Nickie found an apartment and will be moving in 2 weeks!
YAY! I love having her around, but I have missed my alone time.

Right after I got home, David called me. Out of the blue. He is staying at Mother's for the weekend. He has been in Florida the last year and evidently has held a job all that time. Amazing. I gave him a huge big sister lecture about staying in touch, then we had a  nice conversation. I hope that he might be growing up finally. Grace is not a part of his life, which probably helps. I was extremely happy to learn that he has had his teeth taken care of finally and has dentures. I HATE having a brother that looked like a down and out drug addict. Which he is, but that isn't the point.

I am really irritated/hurt/upset, as the swaps that I sent out last week have all been received (thank you delivery confirmation) but only one person has had the courtesy to acknowledge receipt (the spring equinox doll). It just bothers me that I spend so much time and thought, not to mention money.... and I make sure that I acknowledge within a day or two when someone sends me something, even if I don't care for it.  It is another reason to drop out of all swapping.  Honestly, why bother?

I think I may drop full_moon_swaps  too. It is just not feeling like a community to me and I think 7 moderators for a community that is so quiet is  just not necessary. I am most definitely expendable.  And I just don't like the way it is heading.  So it might be best to just remove myself. I am going to give it serious thought over the next week. It is just a chore, at this point.

I have already dropped any outstanding swaps on swap-bot that haven't had partners assigned. I am waiting on  quite a few things that should be sent already or sent in the next few weeks, so I can't delete my profile. Will have to wait on that.

I think I am looking more for a community that has the energy that Nervousness used to have. I may not be able to find it, but I want to look for it. Or create one.  I thought FMS would have that energy, but it just doesn't.

Tomorrow is the systems switch at work and I am dreading and looking forward to it at the same time. I was fortunate enough to be assigned production by my supervisor, so I will have an advantage of having time to learn the new system before having to work from the phones with it. Supervisor is a good guy! 

Today has been designated Clean-the-house-it-is-messy, messy, messy-after-being-ill-for-a-month Day, so I need to get moving.

Yoyo reappeared, healthy and unharmed, thankfully. I am not going to dwell on that. Suffice to say, it was bad while he was missing.

Friday, someone sent me flowers at work. Pink tulips, my favorite. No card, no name, no florist logo, just a mystery. They are beautiful, although slightly limp after the weekend. It has made me nuts, as I am not a fan of mysteries like that. I would like to thank whomever sent them! They made the day a lot brighter, for sure.



I have been procrastinating a little on packing up some swap-bot things. I have had them all ready to go for weeks, just haven't felt like packing them. I am almost done packing tonight (love insomnia). I think once I mark "sent" on the swaps I have, I will stop for a bit. I joined some expensive swaps lately and as much as I enjoy putting together things for other people, it is getting to be too much, as I am not receiving an equivalent in return. I started out with quite a stash of things, so I was just clearing clutter, but I have had to purchase things recently, so time to stop.

Unfortunately, I failed to save the scans of the tip-in pages for the Wheel of the Year Tip-ins-both February and March for morrigane .

( Read more... )

( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Those are the last of the big swaps I plan on doing for awhile. I have a Spring Swap for Nervousness, but I can make most fo the things for that one and it should be fairly easy. I have a few outstanding tags , but nothing more than gathering things up that I already have or can make very quickly. I am just burned out and have been quite disappointed (and flaked on) a few times recently, so before it becomes a chore, I would rather just stop.


I am slowly but surely recovering and every day is a little better. I hope I can get well enough to start packing, as I am very serious about moving back closer to Murfreesboro. There are more and more issues becoming apparent with the house and I need to get out before my life becomes even more of a misery. All this, just when I finally start to meet some local people. Figures. I hate moving... I own too many things. I will be freecycling a lot of possessions when I move. I just don't need them. They are encumbrances.

Speaking of local people, have met some lovely people that I have wanted to meet for quite some time and got my entry to The Mark, which is a wonderful thing. It gets me back out with people I have things in common with, which is nice. I have a dinner date with one of the men that I used to see at the old club, so it is something to look forward to. I still miss Bill, but I am never getting him back, so it is time to look forward. I am not looking for a relationship, but occasional dates would be nice.




















</lj>

( Full Moon Swap-Light in the Darkness )

For some reason, I am having tons of problems posting to LJ lately. My first sentence up there was not supposed to be under the cut, but it will not let me edit it.


I finished a plushie for one of Nicki's friends. It is  cthulhu, a nasty H.P. Lovecraft creature:

( cthulhu )


I also finished a Spring Goddess doll, almost exactly like one I finished two years ago, for a swap-bot swap. I haven't even been assigned my partner yet, but I have her ready to go. I will post pics of her later. I am working on some tip in pages for morrigane . Too funny, I was finishing her page for a series of swaps we are doing on swap-bot and when March's partners were assigned, I am sending to her again!

I am feeling a lot better today. I got up in the middle of the night to drive Nicki to Nashville, as she is going to South Carolina this weekend to see a friend. After that, I came back home and slept. Stayed out of work again, as I need the rest. I do plan on going to work tomorrow if I continue to feel better. I have been invited to The Mark this weekend for a Valentine party and and thinking about going. I don't know, I probably should stay home and rest some more. But it is tempting. It's a $15 door charge and it's nice to have someone else pay that.... normally I fend for myself at the door. We'll see how I feel.

I have made the decision to let my house go. It was a tough decision, but I honestly don't know how I will manage after Nicki moves out... it will put me $300-$400 over budget EVERY month. Disaster. I don't expect to make anything off the sale of the house, but hopefully I will break even.  My heart is hurting over it, but it has to be done. I can't take on a second job while my health is in such a precarious state. It would be counter-productive.

I am just so damn tired. And tired of being tired.

It has been quite a while since I could update. Between health issues and LJ not allowing me to update (GGRRR), I just have been pretty quiet.  Putting a lot of this under cuts, so as not to clutter up people's FLists.

( Boring health stuff )

It has been bitterly cold quite a bit in the past few weeks and neither Nicki or I can bear to go into the kitchen because it is so cold, so the kitchen is messy and we have been wasting money on take-out. The messiness is making me nuts, but honestly, I can't stand to go in there. It was 42 degrees in there the other morning. Today, the temp is supposed to be in the 70's!  If the kitchen warms up, I may venture in there to tidy and wash the sink full of glasses. Tennessee weather......

I have been really busy with full_moon_swaps  and swap-bot... not to mention school. This semester is kicking my butt.

I received a lovely pocket goddess from gypsytemptress  via swap-bot. I think it is hilarious to be paired up on another site with the same people from LJ. I don't have a pic of the goddess she sent yet, but as soon as I post my pics of my updated water altar, I will show it off. It is cross stitched, a lovely blue goddess.

Swap-bot has paired me with morrigane several times, right on the heels of our FMS swap in October. Too funny.
( My funny Valentine )


I wrote another lovely paper about frugal shopping and debated starting another journal just for that type of thing, as after the first paper I wrote in the fall, which I recycled into a Toastmasters speech, I made a zine, which was so well received, I ended up printing again two more times. I gave out 23 of them, which isn't bad. After the 2nd paper, which I again recycled into a speech, I made another zine, which I haven't distributed yet.  Need some $$ before printing. Anyway, at work, I am considered somewhat fo an expert and since times are so hard, I have been invited to speak to other groups and distribute the zine. I thought a blog dealing with the issue of frugal living would be nice, but there are already SO many, I just don't want to repeat things. Need to think on it some more.

( Dumpster diving )
More later, going back to bed....still so tired.....

Photography is most definitely NOT my strong suit....and photobucket was being a brat this morning. I cropped every single one of these pics and photobucket shows them cropped, yet here.... not cropped. WTH?

(  Awful Pictures and short descriptions under here. )

Cold Moon

Birch Moon

I finished my tip-ins for hag53's altered book/BOS. I made a card style spread, so she can insert it into her book either attached or split apart. The theme is January's full moon and I chose to include information about the Celtic Cold Moon or Birch Moon. It is very plain, but I wanted to give the sense of darkness and the moon shedding light.

 

 

The past couple of weeks have been busy and up and down, as always.

Biggest news is that John was here for 4 whole days! We had a good time, although we mainly stayed at home. Katie came over Saturday and we played with the Wii and then she and Nicki made soap while John and Nathan played games.  I hated to see John leave on Sunday, but he has made a definite commitment to return to TN in April, when his lease is up.

Have had car issues and plumbing issues in past couple of weeks, but I refuse to dwell on them.

Doug sent me a sewing machine and I have started a number of small goddess dolls that I will complete in the next couple of weeks for PIFs and swaps. I am looking for vintage bra patterns, now that I have a decent machine. I can hardly wait to get crafting.  He also sent me a camera, which is a lot of fun. I haven't had much chance to play with it yet, but am looking forward to being able to take clearer pics! Such sweet and thoughtful gifts. But that is Doug. That Christmas tree he sent was a big hit with the kids. :)

Bon & J are fighting.... depressing.

I passed my courses, although since that last paper I handed in was so bad, I dropped from an A to a C. I am not ashamed of it... A C is respectable after being out of school for 25 years, but it irritates me that I let a work project take precedence over school. This also means I am only reimbursed 50% for tuition, which sucks.Won't happen again. I dropped out of all committee and projects at work. I just want to go in and work... then go home.  I still need to finish those last two speeches in Toastmasters. I put them off in November, but have asked if I can do a speak-a-thon to get both out of the way before I schedule those damn surgeries. We'll see.

Was doing some research for an elemental altar today:

Air-
East (duh)

Projective energy, intelligence, creativity, communication, imagination, ideas, dreams, wishes, psychic powers, travel

Symbols: wind, breezes, clouds, feathers, smoke, herbs, incense

Goddesses: Aradia, Arinrhod, Urainia
Gods: Enlil(another raping god, for crying out loud)
Spirits: zephyrs (I love that word), fairies, tree spirits

Colors: yellow, white

Stones: topaz, pumice, rainbow stones, crystals, amethyst, alexandrite

Metals: tin and copper

Animals: eagle, spider, raven


I think from this, I can come up with a great altar to put by my crafting area......

Received an amazing array of wintery comfort from GoDIva on N'ness:

( See all the wonderfulness: )


( Swap-Bot Tags )

One more day, one more day!

I am still in a fairly bad mood from yesterday. It irritates me that I paid a bill AHEAD(!) and now I can't watch T.V. Pisses me off. And T.V.s are not in my budget.

Another irritation. I am angeling a swap on swap-bot and it involves making a desk out of match boxes. Two questions... why would any self-respecting grown woman want such a thing? and what the hell is this same woman going to do with it? Ugly as hell, it is. I feel like I wasted a ton of time. If I received it, I would get all the beads and stuff out of the tiny matchbox drawers and consign it to file 13. Just saying.......

And another irritation... invited someone to stroll through Opryland Hotel tonight with me. This was Tuesday... no word from that individual since. I guess for the 4th year in a row, I will do it by myself.... 5 years if you count the year that I got halfway there and was too depressed so I came back home and went to bed instead.  I may not even make the effort this evening. I don't know that even the magic of all those lights would life my spirits. And if not, would be pissed even more that I spent time and gas getting there.

I hate November, I hate birthdays. No good comes out of either.

Thanksgiving.
I am thankful I have a day off with pay.
I am thankful I was able to sleep an extra hour.
I am thankful I don't have to talk to anyone all weekend, if I don't choose to.


I am NOT thankful I have no one to cook for. It's a bummer, as I do enjoy making holiday meals.

Received the Sweet Treat Recipe cards for my N'ness swap. I have a great idea for a scrapbook-style cookbook, starting with these. I was hoping for 10 participants, but I am very happy with these five:

( wonderful recipe cards )



( swap-bot stuff )

Wow... only one more week to go. Learned something... I prefer to use my paper journal and just keep a running log every few days here.

My neck is a lot better... not so stiff, but still hurts. It's bearable, so am trying not to whine. The weather has aggravated my arthritis, so I am achey anyway.

Have been busy, busy, busy working on finishing PIFS and swaps I am angeling on swap-bot. Went to Bell Buckle yesterday and picked up some lovely things at Doodle Bug. Of course, while I was in Bell Buckle, I had to poke around the antique stores and I was SO glad I did. I found a few pieces of the blue cornflower CorningWare that I have been looking for at extremely reasonable prices! YAY!  The small individual casserole dishes with the plastic lids, so I can take leftovers for lunch in something nicer than plastic. I absolutely hate eating out of plastic. I could have spent a great dea of money yesterday, as there were many  pieces in that booth that I wanted, including the giant deep casserole with lid (!) that would come in handy for potlucks. It was $30 however, and I couldn't justify the purchase. There was also the teapot and coffee pots and all of it was in like new condition. I have a serious case of the "I wants."

Phillips General Store has in their window the creepiest Winter/Christmas display I have ever seen. It's all white, which is cool... but there is a ginormous... about 5' to 5 1/2' tall snowman (maybe made of plaster?) as the centerpiece and the expression on its face is just evil... like Freddie Kruger evil! And it is a shaped body with legs, not round snowball shaped. If I were a small child, that thing would give me nightmares. I may go back to take a picture of it.  Their other display window is very luxe; it is all dark pink and gold. Very Victorian, ornate Christmas.

I am so glad this is a short work week .... Monday -Wednesday, then 4 days off. Love the days off with pay. After working so many years in retail/restaurant and working every single holiday every single year.... so nice. Even if I don't celebrate....it's a day off with pay. Love it. I plan to clean, clean, clean the house.  And maybe go to Opryland Hotel to gawk at the 2 million Christmas lights.  We'll see.

Not doing well with last part of the semester.... maybe now that the presure of that damn work presentation is over I can focus more.

Brrr.... cold this morning. I am trying very hard to be conservative with the heat, but since it really isn't all that cold yet, I am a little concerned about January/February. If I keep the heater on low, it is still a little too chilly in the living room. The kitchen, dining room, and utility room are already too cold for comfort, since I blocked them off from heat. No fun to go in the kitchen to make coffee in the mornings. I have to bundle up like I am in the Arctic Circle. Poor Nicki... with her circulation problems, her fingers are blue in the evenings. I try to look at it as a "toughening up" process. There was no heat in the Treehouse and I lived there okay. But then again, I didn't have full blown arthritis then, either.

I have a couple of PIFs to finish up and get in the mail. I am trying to complete everything by end of November so I can relax and not worry about anything else. I am having fun with some ATCs right now and have a couple of teeny-tiny art dolls that I am really loving. My raggy lady has been put away for the time being, until I can finish these other things. Since the crafting table is in the utility room, I am going to have to put a heater in there. I tried to sit in there long enough to just paint a box top and I couldn't stand it. COLD!

I am so tired.

An easy-peasy swap via swap-bot: Send decorated to-do list. It is an outdoorsy activity weekend, it looks like! This is going to Denmark. Coincidentally, my new penpal is from Denmark, so I have two things mailed to that country this weekend. It's exciting to get mail from another country, so really looking forward to the returns on this.
Got some  things accomplished from that list: winterized the koi pond, mailed my list,  and raked leaves.  Finishing the essay right now, but am procrastinating.

I am working 7-7 all week, which means I am not going to have a lot of time for studying and posting to the school discussion boards. Trying to get it all done today.

Posted a candy/cookie recipe swap LMAO on N'Ness. I hope people sign up, as I thought it would be fun... and relatively easy to do. I imposed a firm deadline and  made it a collection LMAO, so if people don't mail to me by  deadline, they will get their own stuff back. Period. 

It is sweat shirt weather, which is exciting. I have been waiting for it! Love it, love it.  The dogs are enjoying the weekend too.