Merry Christmas to all!

I hope Santa was good to everyone. We experienced the usual family calamities here, but survived nonetheless. The doggies were very happy with the presents that Santa left in their stocking and Bean was not distressed by the mouse in her stocking although it doesn't seem to amuse her too much. Marc surprised me by getting me a trinket... he needs clothing so the after Christmas sale at LL Bean suits him more from me. He is so difficult to buy for! The weather here has been unpredictable - it was the wettest Christmas on record with well over an inch of rain in most places yesterday, followed today by 20's and lake effect snow of a couple inches. I miss Florida! We were in Walt Disney World until about a week ago. They had near record temperatures of mid to upper 80's while we were there. It will be quite awhile before we see those temperatures again.

In the meantime, the beading bug has bitten me as I've received the Bead & Button Show catalog. There are too many choices for classes. I know I'll be taking at least a couple. Susan Lenart Kazmer is coming back, so I've got to take at least one of her workshops, but which one? I can't afford them all! Why can't I be independently wealthy??? Oh well... Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does pay for things like workshops. I'll find a way to take the one's I need to take. I've gotten out the beads and am working on some jewelry again, so I'll work on getting some pics up for your amusement soon. My studio is a disaster zone right now, so my New Year's resolution is to get that cleaned up and usable for the New Year.

I hope the coming year finds you happy, healthy and if it's what you need, a bit more financially stable in this difficult economy.

Enjoy,

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope your day is (was) an enjoyable one...

Enjoy,
-Roberta

great day

today was a very nice holiday indeed. dinner with family at the restaurant was only one hour and as it was nearby our house, we were home quickly. i was utterly stuffed! i am not a big meat eater - actually i'm mainly vegetarian, but thanksgiving just isn't thanksgiving without the obligatory piece of turkey with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. i had my fill, that's for sure - with no room left for pie. i'll have to make myself some pumpkin pie one of these days to make up for that. we got home early enough that i was able to put away the halloween decor and bring out some of the christmas decorations. i've got to be in the holiday mood as it makes me feel better. the holidays have never been full of fond memories for me. quite the contrary. they've always been the most miserable time of the year for me - that is - until i met marc. he has made me feel special and allowed me to bring in my own family traditions into the holidays. this was something my ex never did. actually, marc and i try to mix it up with his traditions and my own. plus, i bring things into the mix that weren't part of either of our traditions to make a whole new tradition that is just ours. i love christmas ornaments, but they have to speak to me. every year i get one or two new ones. 

regardless, today has been a great day. i've been working in my studio for several hours. making progress on a couple of projects i'm working on and laying the ground for others. and i've been able to listen to my ipod for the past few hours as well. music always helps me focus on what ever i'm working on at the time. home or work. the faster the music the more my mind can focus on the task at hand and it makes me happy. i downloaded another song for my ipod today - gorillaz "clint eastwood". that song always has me singing along with it and since i don't hear it much any more on the radio i thought i may as well have it on the trusty ipod. i do feel rather selfish having two ipods, but it comes in handy - one for listening to music and the other for just about everything else. the next one will have to have a bigger hard drive (note to those of you thinking about getting your first ipod - get the 16 gig). 

happy thanksgiving!

i am back! good grief, i've been way too busy at work. no time for anything. even working weekends. this makes me very stressed. i did get away to the rubberstamp and scrap show in madison on sunday. OMG! if i only had an unlimited budget... i did manage to get a few things: ink, stamps, grungeboard... stampers anonymous was there - dangerous on my pocketbook! i also got a wonderful package from artchixstudios.com - i had ordered some dream boxes from them along with a few collage sheets. all i can say is how wonderful! i've got to take some time these next few days in my studio being creative before it makes me insane. 

winter is pretty much fully here now. we've had over an inch of snow on the ground since monday night. i finally had to take the pump out of my pond before the thing freezes solid. it is a preformed pond, with lannonstone surrounding it. we took the goldfish out several weeks ago, but i hadn't managed to take out the pump. the top of the water had frozen over leaving this little hood of ice where the water bubbled up from the pump. i hated to take it out as the birds and animals drink from here. my birdie bath heater is broken and i have to either replace it or see if it can be fixed. think i'll need a new one. 

even though it's a four day weekend coming up (i'm taking friday off), it is month end and that means i'll have to come in and do reports on saturday. marc, his mom and i are going to madison on friday for a "family day" of fun and frolic. seriously, we will do some antiquing and go out to eat. it is black friday, but none of us shop! for thanksgiving dinner we are going out to eat - thanks to marc's aunt and uncle who are taking us out to eat at a restaurant. at least i won't have to cook, but i do miss the time at home.  

happy thanksgiving to you all! be safe.