I know its a day early but....

Today I realized that a friend of mine is dead. Not in-the-ground dead...they are still walking, talking, breathing...but they are dead inside. They've given up. Life dumped a little too much on them and they just gave up. I am sure that it wasn't all at once, but they are just going through the motions now and there's really nothing left of the person they once were.

I am not saying that is going to happen to me....but it has been a bit of a wake-up call. So much of my life has been spent fiddle-farting around and not taking advantage of so many of the opportunities that have come my way. I don't want to wake up one morning and find that I no longer feel that life is worth living. I'll probably not get anywhere near as far as I'd like to with these goals (I have a long track record of good intentions falling by the wayside) but I am still detirmined to make this work.

Goal #1 is probably the same as most of America...lose some weight. Most of you do not know that I started another blog last year...it wasn't private, but I didn't broadcast it either. In fact, my name and all identifying information are not listed anywhere in the blog. This blog consisted of my daily weigh-ins, my current body measurements, my food diary and my current state-of-being (my back being out, water retention, sugar addiction, etc). I let that blog fall by the wayside and now I have started it up again. It will, however, now be private. If anyone is interested just let me know and I will invite you to the site, but I will warn you that it won't be pretty. It'll have some very scary numbers listed and, as of tomorrow evening, it will have pictures showing just how bad I let it all get (no there won't be nudies but I doubt everyone I know will want to see a picture of me in my undies with my gut hanging over and a close-up of my cottage cheese thighs and varicose veins!) This goal includes spending January weaning myself off of sugar and then February getting off of the soda pop.

Goal #2 get my Etsy shop really humming by finally developing a lot of those ideas I've had for crafts. I'm happy that I finally opened the shop, but I need to put some real merchandise on there.

Goal #3 learn more about the programs that I use for school--Adobe's Photoshop, In Design and Illustrator...there is so much that these programs are able to do that I don't know about. I'm actually pretty excited to see what I can do once I know my "way around the block" so to speak.

Goal #4 get serious about photography. Its not enough to want to snap photos...I need to start learning about the ins and outs of good photography. I really don't intend to sell my stuff, but I want to learn all I can and start looking for better photo opportunities.

I guess the point to this blog is to say more that I want to live my life a lot fuller than I have up until this point. Not that this means I will be having much of a social life...between work and school I already didn't have one and adding some goals in there will cramp that even more but I do want to be a little more....alive.

Hmmmmmm

Got this candy bar from Target the other day and, while its really good, the spices keep you from eating more than one square at a time...great diet incentive I suppose for the gal who (like me) tends to inhale entire chocolate bars in about 30 seconds. Its the Target "Choxie" brand, which is actually fairly expensive....on average about $1 per oz. This "Dark Chocolate Ceylon Spice Bar" comes in a 3 oz box (yes, it cost $3) and is dark chocolate spiced with cinnamon, pepper and toasted cacao bean nibs.

Sound gross?

Well I decided to take a shot at it. To be honest I didn't even notice the pepper and bean nib content until I was in the car and opening the package.

On first nibble you get a nice dark chocolate taste (which is somewhat bitter and not sweet like your everyday milk chocolate) and you hardly taste the cinnamon at all...just a hint. Upon swallowing you finally taste the pepper...at the back of your throat. While not an unpleasant sensation it certainly causes you to hesitate for a moment as chocolate and pepper are not a common combination. Tasty...but not common. Maybe its just my taste buds but while I know the bean nibs were there (that would be the crunchy bits scattered throughout the bar) you really don't taste them against the bitterness of the dark chocolate like I thought I would.

All-in-all it is an interesting experience...out of the 6 squares that come in this bar I still have 4 left and I purchased this 3 days ago. So from a "gotta lose weight and eat less chocolate" standpoint this would probably be a safe bet to have stashed in your emergency drawer, but at $3 per "bar" I am not sure I would want to invest in these for any long-term purposes unless it went on a massive sale.

Aftermath....

Well the big move is FINALLY over....Annie and I hauled the last of our junk out of the duplex on Saturday, cleaned the place up, left the keys on the counter and are gone for good. Its such a relief knowing that we have nothing still over there that we need to pick up and that the only mess we still need to deal with is figuring out just where we want everything to be in the new house. Of course the final load (pictures, pictures and more pictures) are still in my car...I didn't have the energy Saturday to do any more unloading. Those will start coming out of the car tonight as I am essentially at a point where I can hang pictures on the wall.

Unpacking is progressing pretty well...we've had our storage cupboards for the kitchen assembled and mine is already full (having my "food storage" crammed onto two shelves at the duplex I couldn't always see if I'd already purchased something. I have a lot of duplicate items and I have enough sugar free pudding mix to last me for at least a year)! I'll be getting another one in a week or so, along with another tall bookshelf for the dvds in the living room (it turns out I own a lot more movies than I thought!) My bedroom has the major elements all in place....the bed, dresser, bookshelves and my desk are where I want them. My closet is full of my hanging clothes and the bookshelves are packed with books, but I still need to unpack the boxes filled with my desk items (which I am certain includes my cell phone charger....luckily Annie and I have the same phone and I've been using her charger).

The basement is full of boxes, but they are nicely stacked so we aren't in a huge hurry to sort them at the moment. Since I am off of school this week I will be unpacking a few more boxes every evening and hope to be fairly close to done by New Years...that way I can hopefully relax this weekend and maybe even get a few crafts done (I have to admit I didn't get a lot of relaxing in over the Christmas holiday though I was a complete lazy bum for Sunday...by then I needed it!) The next few weekends after that will be organizing my boxes downstairs and setting up the craft area so I can get to work....ideas have been firing off in my brain all weekend about cute Christmas ornaments to sell on Etsy next year and it never hurts to get a jump start on it. I still haven't found the photographs that I was going to work up into cards but if I don't find them in the few boxes I have left upstairs I will just have them printed up again....luckily I took the cardstock to work and its sitting safely in my office, waiting to be assembled.

Christmas was fun...I got to Jase's Wednesday afternoon and made cookies and fudge (surprisingly the time flew by making them) and we watched a few episodes of Smallville on the big screen. Jase had made some tortellini soup (yum!) for dinner and then one of his friends came over....we watched a Twilight Zone episode of a wino who wishes for the ability to give people the things they really wanted and he ends up becoming Santa Claus...then it was off for bed.

Christmas morning dawned lovely and gray, with Jase making german pancakes for breakfast. We opened presents and I was thrilled with the things Yancy and Leah got for me....I had a sweet set of magnets featuring cats taken from various masterpieces (I'd seen that collection before and loved them but had never gotten around to purchasing them), I also got a box set I wanted...the "Firefly" series (I watched a favorite episode on the big screen at Jason's and I can't wait to watch more at his place!) I also had a book on the life of Joseph Smith that I'd heard of but never really looked at. I sat down with it, thinking I would just peep through it while the turkey was cooking and before I had to start on the potatoes....I became so engrossed that an hour passed by before I was able to pry myself away and get back to making Christmas dinner! Its a fascinating book and I am really enjoying it (its called "Rough Stone Rolling" by Richard Lyman Bushman if anyone else is interested).

Dinner was at 5 and Jase had several friends over and it was a very nice party. There was plenty of food between what I had made and what everyone brought, we laughed and talked and Jase had Christmas music playing in the background. The tree was lit and everything was warm and cosy and it was (to me at least)the perfect way to end such a wonderful day. The snow started falling softly not too long before everyone left and it made for a beautiful (if a little slick) drive home.

I was home by 10:30 and while I had fun at Jason's it was wonderful to be able to come home to my own bed in my still box-filled room. Nothing quite beats falling asleep with little Samson snuggled up next to me, purring happily in my ear.

Holiday Weekend Here I Come.....

I ended up getting all day tomorrow off!!!!!

Originally I was going to work a half day tomorrow and then zip over to Jason's to begin baking for the holidays but the powers that be (a.k.a. Bill and Dan) decided to let me have the whole day off!

Including my vacation day on friday that means this girl is looking at a 5 DAY WEEKEND (oh yeah....oh yeah.....)

Of course tomorrow and thursday will be at Jason's and then friday and saturday will be moving the last of my crap over to the house and cleaning up the duplex but that'll give me sunday to play with my crafts!

And since I have all of next week off of school I will have the evenings to finish unpacking before I get a 4-day weekend (using another vacation day next friday) in which to REALLY play with my crafts....WHEE!!!!!!

For Lucie

Nothing special about this posting....Lucie was asking me what Sammy looked like and if I post it here that means she'll have to come to my blog.

Well I survived the weekend....

Sort-of.

While there are still a few carloads of stuff at the duplex, we are mostly moved in to the new home.

Thank goodness.

Friday afternoon I went to get the U-Haul and boy was that white-knuckle time! Annie drove us down to the U-Haul center and the snow was just starting to fall. By the time we left with our 17-foot truck the roads were an ice sheet and traffic was crawling between 5-10 mph and everyone was still sliding all over the road. The fastest we were able to go the entire drive home was 18! The drive that took us 10 minutes to get to U-Haul took us nearly 40 to get back!

We made a short stop at Target for some heavy free-standing storage cabinets that are now leaning against the kitchen wall waiting for assembly (and I need to pick up a tall bookshelf for my dvds since one of my small bookcases didn't survive the move) If anyone in the area is interested and able to work with tools...I'm serious...If they are willing to help me haul the bookshelf box here from Wal-Mart, and then will assemble said bookshelf and both cabinets, I'll gladly pay them $75 for the job (that's $25 per item to assemble, which is what WalMart would have charged me for assembly anyway). The sooner the better...I would love to be using those things by the end of this weekend. When you're tired of moving and all it entails, you'll gladly shell out cash to make your life a bit easier!

Well our friday help bailed out on us (not worth going into)...which is why there is still stuff at the house right now; after 2 completely full loads in the U-Haul and one small trip in the van our movers brought we'd run out of time to do that last load. Basically the kitchen is only partially packed and there's still everything that was under my bed (its not as bad as it sounds...its wrapping paper, my telescope, my art easel and a bunch of picture frames)and a few random boxes worth of stuff. Oh, and I still have all of the art on the walls because I didn't want any of the glass to be broken in the move (as it was I lost several jars of canned fruit that was dropped but it could be worse).

I am not sure what all Annie has left in the duplex but today and tomorrow I will grab a load after work (today I tackle the kitchen and remaining foodstuffs!) One load won't be too hard to haul over and I'll still have time afterwards to keep unpacking my other stuff. I'll be at Jase's wednesday night and then I don't think I will move a thing on thursday. I have all day friday off and then the weekend so I plan to be done by Saturday night.

As of this moment my room is mostly together...I slept on my own bed Saturday night, however it was without sheets. I was smart enough to toss a garbage bag with my fleecy/fake fur throw blanket and a pillow into my car so I was able to find that in time for bed. Yesterday's unpacking found the rest of my bedding so it was with warm sheets, wool blanket and a cozy quilt that I drifted to sleep last night.

As for the cats...Jasper really freaked out. It probably didn't help that I shut them up in the bathroom while everything was moved so they could hear a lot of noise and didn't really know what was happening. I'd go in the bathroom to check on them and Jasper was curled up hiding between the toilet and the shower...Sammy was snoozing in the sink and wasn't worried at all! By the time I came to get the cats I literally stuffed Jasper in the cat carrier (he wasn't about to get in there willingly) and then I carried Sam since he's still pretty small (I need to get a second carrier now that I have 2 cats).

At the new place I put them in Annie's room along with Fluffy while we took the U-Haul back. I figured it would help calm Jasper down since he loves that dog but we came back to a very upset cat....I have no idea where he's found to hide but he has some good spots since we've had problems finding him from time-to-time. He started exploring yesterday and he's eating again so he's calming down. He loves all of the windows in the house (as do I....its wonderful having light in every room again!) but its also a slight problem: as I was leaving this morning Jasper was sitting at the window and looking decidedly peeved at me! What about Sammy, you ask? Try happy-happy-happy, pouncy-pouncy-pouncy and apparently having no problems with his new home in the least.

And today? This morning dawned a lovely misty gray with the icicles on the house dripping so I was in such a great mood on my way to work. An hour later the skies opened up and a ton of snow has dumped on my car. People are sliding all over the place because they are driving too fast and me? Thankfully I'm just grabbing the one load tonight but its definitly going to include my teapot and a couple of cans of hot cocoa!

Tomorrow and Saturday

sigh....its like out of a Don Bluth film I loved so well....the frost may not be off of the ground but moving day is at hand....as Auntie Shrew would have put it "prepare to move your very very odd family".

So tomorrow begins my foray into moving (once again) in the snowy time of the year. When I say snow I mean snow....there are several inches on the ground today and it is still coming down. Weather warnings state that its supposed to snow a lot more tomorrow and Saturday...this is going to be interesting. Luckily Annie's boss and his sons said they would help us run a load over in the U-Haul tomorrow evening and then we're paying a couple of guys to move the rest of it over Saturday morning.

So tomorrow. I took the day off of work so I can get up early and start chucking everything into boxes. It shouldn't be too bad since a lot of my stuff was never unpacked in the first place and is still sitting in the storage shed outside. I'll probably grab all of my clothes from the closet and pull the drawers out of the dresser and drive those over in my car, just so I can put them away immediately. I'll also pull all non-essentials from the bathroom, clear out the hall closet (where I keep my extra bottles of shampoo, the towels, etc) and haul those over as well. The worst of the packing will probably be in boxing up all of my dvds and books....goodness knows I have a lot of both. Of course I'll leave moving the books for the boys because even though I have some medium sized boxes for the job, those boxes won't be light.

It sucks we're in such a small space that there really isn't anywhere to stack up boxes...but then we'll only be dealing with it for a short time, its not as if I will have boxes stacked across the living room for days and days.

The bad part is that I have to drive down tomorrow and get the U-Haul (its in Provo). While I don't mind driving those things I only hope the weather cooperates enough for me to pick it up and bring it back without too much difficulty...the last thing I need is to be in someone else's truck and sliding into other people.

This Summer....

This looks promising.

Nutcracker

WOW.

Seriously....about all I can manage is WOW.

I have wanted to see The Nutcracker for so many years and it finally happened!!!!

I was a bit worried because the news was claiming we'd have 6" of snow that day here in the valley (yikes!) with at least a foot more in the mountains. Well, I am not sure how much the mountains ended up receiving but I think we had about an inch and it melted off the roads in no time flat.

I was so excited that I was all but jumping up and down by the time I arrived at the Covey Center and luckily found Cynthia and the girls just pulling into a spot so I was able to park next to them. Once inside it was a bit of a madhouse with little girls all dressed up and a long table of bling that had quite the crowd around it. There were nutcrackers for sale, mini tiaras, dolls, costume jewelry, roses and poinsettias....trust me, they were making money over there. I ended up getting a tiny ballerina doll (I have a thing for ballerinas) but before anyone has a cow she was under $10. Its a lovely little souvenier that doesn't take up much space and through it I was supporting the arts!

Anyway....we found our seats and I held my breath as the prelude music began. Cynthia's daughter Kat was not so impressed as the prelude went on and on and the curtain failed to rise! However rise it eventually did and the performance flew by all too soon. My friend's son Cortney had several dances in the program and the girls had me whisper to them each time he came on the stage so they could be sure to watch him. I'd never seen him dance before, though his mom had assured me that he was a fantastic dancer...and she wasn't wrong. For the Arabian dance he kept lifting his partner up onto his shoulders and around the stage and managed to make it look effortless (he afterwards admitted to me that he was exhausted but he definitly did not look it on stage!)

Cynthia had purchased my ticket along with hers so we could all sit together and when I asked her what I owed her she asked if I would be disappointed if that was my Christmas present. Disappointed?!?!? But then she had no idea just what it meant for me to be able to see that ballet...I know she knew I was excited and really wanted to go but, in a really weird way, it was the best present she could have possibly given me. Seriously, how do you put a price on fulfilling childhood wishes?

We all attended a "tea party" afterwards where girls could get their pictures taken with Clara and the Sugar Plum fairy. Other cast members were on hand as well but were pretty much off to one side and being ignored. I handed Cynthia my camera and had her snap a shot of Cortney, his partner and I. Honestly, as good as the entire performance was his really was my favorite (and no its not because I know the guy!) the Arabian dance is my favorite piece from the ballet and I was just thrilled that an excellent performance was attached to it. Of course after this shot was taken the girls had to tease me because Cortney had glitter all over himself and when I hugged him I guess I got a little sparkly myself!



I pretty much had the music from Nutcracker in my head for the rest of the weekend. In fact I am kind of kicking myself that I didn't grab the CD and bring it to work with me since I'm pretty much spending today and tomorrow in the warehouse doing inventory.

All-in-all I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to seeing it again next year. All of the fun Saturday made up for the fact that I spent all of Sunday feeling like crap with a bad headache....no matter how poopy I felt I was still on a cloud with snippets of Tchaikovsky running through my head....

Something from my aunt Joan.....

Okay, I normally hate those little "cute-sy" messages that people love forwarding to me, but this one actually made me chuckle.....

A Dream Come True....

I am such a dweeb but I am getting excited to see "The Nutcracker" performed live at the Covey Center this Saturday!!!!

Seriously.

No, I mean it. I am nearing a "peeing my pants" excitement here.

I have wanted to see "The Nutcracker" live ever since I was a teenager, it just never panned out. I can't recall how the conversation started but my friend Cynthia and I mentioned how neither of us had ever seen it performed and how we both wanted to. We said something about it'd be nice to see it together and then the conversation moved on.....until I noticed my friend Cortney's post on Facebook that he was performing in the Covey Center's performance.

A lot has tried to keep me from going....Cynthia and my different schedules, the fact that I am moving, packing, painting, etc....but we are scheduled to catch the matinee this weekend.

Of course this is bound to shock a few people....namely my parents who shelled out hard-earned money for ballet lessons in the hopes of turning their overweight, tomboy daughter into something a little more graceful (we all know how THAT turned out...I am about the biggest klutz you're likely to run into). Lets face it, I have no aptitude for the graceful arts.... however, while I have no talent for ballet I sincerely love to watch it.

Did I mention I was excited?

Oh, and on a happy note...Jasper's infection is fading fast!

What a Weekend....

First of all an appology to everyone checking my Etsy site this weekend...there are now 3 bracelets in my shop for anyone who wants to see. I do have one more button bracelet not listed just yet (and its my favorite of the bunch), but it will be on later today....I somehow forgot to grab that one to get pictures of. I plan to have at least 2 with charms and beads instead of buttons posted by the close of next weekend. I haven't had a chance to work the cards yet...I had the pictures reprinted in a larger size on Saturday but haven't gotten to them....more on that in a minute (they probably won't be online until after the 20th because I'd have to dig the cards out of whatever box they were moved into). I am also thinking of crocheted necklace/chokers but that probably won't be online until closer to Christmas what with the packing and the moving.

Okay, this weekend...."where the heck were you" you ask? Well, Saturday morning I spent some time pulling pictures together for a present I am working on, before running out and getting my Christmas shopping done. I am happy to say I got it all done in one day! Of course, some assembly required on 2 things, but otherwise all I have to do is wrap and ship...

Shopping took hours longer than I had thought....I didn't get home until around 7 pm (counting the fact that Annie and I ran out to Panda Express for takeout). We got home, I fed the cats and then we started eating. The plan was I would snarf down my rice, bbq beef and potstickers and then start taking photos to upload to my Etsy shop. Well, a few bites into dinner I noticed Jasper hadn't eaten and yet he really was hungry....he was begging for food but not eating any of it. I picked him up and took a closer look at him and then I noticed one side of his face was freaking huge. Dinner went promptly in the fridge, Jasper was put in his cat carrier and out we went in search of an after-hours animal hospital.

We found one (charging a freaking $75 just to be looked at...not treated, just LOOKED AT!) It took nearly 2 hours from start to finish but Jasper ended up getting anesthesia so the vet could take a look inside his mouth without being chewed to shreds. It apparently looks like an infection (kind of like a sore throat) all over his mouth, but the vet has no idea what could have caused it. He was sent home with a vial of antibiotics and some pain medication and word that if the inflammation doesn't start going down by sometime during this week that another visit will be necessary to my regular vet. All I can say is that after the final bill was presented, I seriously hope the antibiotics do their job....that was EXPENSIVE! If anything I know the pain pills are working because he came home and practically dove into his food dish. So twice a day until the meds are gone Jasper gets rolled up into a towel and force-fed. The one thing I want to know is who comes up with feline medication flavors? Seriously, the antibiotics smell like bananas, which is probably nice for the vet tech who has to mix it up but he's a cat...make it salmon or tuna flavor at least!

Enough on that subject. Sunday's "spare time" was spent first addressing Christmas cards to everyone in my Trixie Belden fan club (yes we're all dweebs who send one another cards every year!) Afterwards I went to snap pics of my bracelets to post but the battery died after one shot. Since I currently have no idea where my spare battery is in all of the chaos that currently calls itself "Shawna's room", I plugged it into the charger and changed the lock on the front door (we're having landlord issues)before trying to organize my room. I found several things, organized my Christmas shopping (which may end up coming here to the office to stay safe while I move) and then it was off to Jason's for dinner and some Smallville. Home again by 8:30, more cleaning, laundry and then off to bed to start another week. Sad to say but I ended up eating MSG last night so it wasn't the best of sleep and I have a headache this morning (why people still insist on using it without warning still peeves me off...big shout out to McDonalds to freaking DROP MSG FROM THE MENU IF YOU EVER WANT ME TO EAT THERE AGAIN!)

And now Monday morning. I look out myu window here at work and its a lovely gray day outside...its trying to snow (which I hope will wait for 2 more weeks until after my move!) but its more of a rain with flakes interspersed. Given how much of the country is currently slammed with snow, I know its unfair for me to hope the weather will cooperate a bit longer, but I am seriously hoping, fingers and toes crossed, starlight starbright and the whole nine yards!

So where does that leave me? With a lot of packing to do, homework not touched (though in all honesty its not due until next week), and a sick cat. I feel up to my eyeballs in stress right now and, while I am happy that my shopping is done, I still have that assembly to work on....but that will wait until Friday (no school!)

Honestly, I am doing good....I just need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

Its beginning to look a lot like....Christmas?

Well, on the inside maybe.

Christmas lights are going up....Christmas tree lots are bustling....the work Christmas party is tomorrow....and still no snow.

I must say as lovely as I think the white stuff is, it has been heaven to drive around in relative safety...and often without the aid of a winter jacket!

The Christmas spirit is certainly alive and was kicking pretty darn hard last night at the Scera theater. My friend's youngest daughter was performing in the Youth Theatre's Annual Christmas Revue (the 7th annual to be exact). It was over 300 kids ranging from preschoolers through 12th grade performing Christmas tunes with a lot of dance thrown in as well.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived to pick up my Will-Call ticket...certainly not the huge line of parents and friends hoping to get tickets to the performance (which ended up selling out for both shows). I finally found my seat with plenty of time to spare, settled in and made small talk with the grandmother next to me who was digging out her camera and hoping her batteries would last. Finally the lights dimmed, the curtains opened and the show began.

Admittedly I enjoyed the first number's ballet dancing but was wincing at some of the wildly-off notes the singer was trying to hit...but you got to give him an A for effort because that kid was singing his little heart out. Then a few medley numbers, one tear-jerker, an absolutely adorable bunch of preschoolers who not only knew their song but were belting it out and nailing the little dance choreographed for them....in fact I was even more impressed with the pint-sized bunch when they were followed by a group of gals who had no clue what move to make and were vainly trying to follow the person dancing next to them.

There were some amazing numbers....the teen swing dancing drew some gasps, and the "Baby its cold outside" number had people laughing and whooping at the antics of the two teens singing the tune. The show closed with an incredible finale that managed to pack all of the kids back on the stage by the end....I was surprised at the end of the show to see that an hour-and-a-half had gone by!

I walked out of the theater with my friend's daughter in tow (I was taking her home since her mom couldn't be there for both performances) but it was with a different mood than when I came in. Before I wasn't really thinking about Christmas at all (in fact, being the typical Shawna that I am, I really hadn't wanted to attend the concert in the first place but a promise is a promise).

I'd been so busy with all of the little things that I hadn't really given Christmas much of a thought. I left uplifted and happy that I had gone, and feeling a little more charitable in my heart. Nothing major, but the mood has stayed with me today as well....there may be no snow on the ground, but there is certainly a feeling of Christmas in my heart.

Its official

The roommate closes on the house on the 9th so that weekend I'll be painting my new bedroom and packing up in preparation for the official move on the 20th.

Annie and I discussed the pros and cons and decided to move over a lot of the smaller items before the big day and then we're splitting the cost of having big burly movers haul over the heavy stuff....so you're all off of the hook for helping me move. Actually its a relief now that we've secured the movers because I would feel horrible having friends hauling my crap around so soon after the last time...especially since there isn't a lot of heavy lifting that I feel comfortable doing right now with my back still bothering me. Sure its a lot better, but not good enough that I want to spend two hours lifting couches and entertainment centers.

Of course that means I will be moving in about 2 weeks time--yikes! I feel a little anxious, but mostly I feel pretty good....after all, a lot of my stuff is still in boxes from my previous move (I never fully got around to unpacking at this place) and most of those boxes can go straight down to the basement to be dealt with at a later time. A lot of the stuff that is unpacked in my room is in storage bins that will be easy enough to move on my own so my room won't really be too much of an issue....

I just wish the timing were a little better. The week before Christmas isn't exactly the best time for this....then again I DO have two 4-day weekends right after I move. While I plan to spend part of Christmas over at Jason's I will still have a couple of days that weekend, and then all of the New Years weekend to really get stuff unpacked and organized.

Wherefore art thou camera?

That was about the way of it this morning; channeling my inner Shakespeare as I wandered the house in search of my camera. Spouting quotes as I dodged playing cats and an overly helpful dog.

Didn't find it....maybe its not a Shakespeare fan....

Of course this means that I need to clean my room so that I can find it because I have bracelets that I made over the weekend for Etsy that I still need to photograph.

I should clean my room anyway, since its really an unorganized mess right now.


Later note:

On a whim I decided to look in my car and, wouldn't you know it, there it was...sitting on the backseat, tucked up against a 12-pack of Pomegranate Diet 7-Up (I'm stockpiling the stuff for the "off season"). Darn it....that means I COULD have snapped a shot of that sunset last night! Given today's weather I don't think there will be much of a sunset tonight either...

But at least I can snap shots of my bracelets and finally get them onto Etsy! I have classes through Thursday so I will put them online on Friday, along with a set of cards. With my PC acting up (freezing and crashing non-stop) it'll be hard for me to get a lot of other shots off of it but at least I managed to get my winter trees pics on a disk! sigh.....I need to save up and get an external hard drive after the holidays so I can save everything on my compy before taking it in to the doctor.

Sunset

Figures.

I leave work tonight to come to class and I stop dead at this absolutely gorgeous sunset....

The sky was a pale peach where it kissed the earth and then ran skyward in streaks of a storm-kissed berry blue, streaks of grape sorbet, tropical punch pink/red and a pale lavender surrounding the crescent moon, which shone valiantly through thickening clouds.

I stood there in awe of this glorious sight for several minutes before reaching into my purse for my camera so I could capture the beauty before me when I realized the horrible truth....

My camera wasn't in my bag...it was sitting at home where it wasn't doing me a darn bit of good.

So I went the less-satisfactory route and snapped a few pics on my camera phone. Needless to say they look terrible.

The moral of the story? Always take time to watch the sunsets and sunrises presented to you in life, for each one is unique and will not be repeated.

And don't forget to pack your camera.