snow continues

snow continues to fall. for those of you who enjoy the snow and especially for those of you who live in climates where you just don't get to see snow, here's a feast of backyard snow scenes for you. first we have icicles hanging from the gutters around our home. this is a new phenomenon for us. as you know, we had a new roof put on our house this year. we also had leaf guards put on our gutters. apparently, the gutter guards are preventing the freezing liquid from going into the gutters, so it is just freezing over the gutter guards and forming icicles down the front of the gutters instead. according to the roofer, this should not pose a problem. they are kind of pretty, but i don't like lengthy icicles near doorways or walkways as when i was very young, a friend of mine had a grandmother killed by a falling icicle (she was impaled by it!!!!) i guess you could say i have an unnatural fear of them (should be a horror movie about that...) anyway, we'll have to figure something out with the icicles, no matter how pretty they are. 

for those keeping track of the snow on the patio set - here you go. last year it was virtually buried. let's hope it doesn't get to that this year. 

then we have guinness, my cavalier king charles spaniel, being a nut in the snow. he loves snow, but more importantly, he loves chasing leaves and this particular day it was very windy. quite a few leaves were blowing on the top of the snow (if you look real hard you can see some brown specks on the other side of the fence, those are the leaves he is after). well, guinness is easily distracted by these things and this particular day i had to literally go out and carry him in as he wouldn't/couldn't stop focusing on the leaves. it was also very cold, with a high around 5 degrees without the windchill. 

i love birds and if you look carefully, you will see a male cardinal in the feeder. he is not happy, as he doesn't like the feeder to be all covered with sticky wet snow. he's making the best of it though. i have several feeders, including suet feeders, as i love woodpeckers also. i also have a heated birdbath outside my kitchen window so the birds can drink during the winter months. i feel so absolutely sorry for these creatures this time of the year and any way i can help them out, i do what i can for them. 

last year was the 2nd snowiest winter on record for wisconsin and so far this december we are close to being on track with last years pace with snowfall. i certainly hope we don't make it to that point. personally, i don't mind sitting in our nice warm home watching the snow fall, but with our home, his mom's driveway, and an apartment building to take care of, marc would never be here - he'd be off snow blowing and shoveling. i don't like that. i help out when i can, but that's not a whole bunch. 

artwork update: i have finished my holiday cards! i did a mix this year. a handful of store bought disney cards from when we were in walt disney world, but the majority were made by me and this time a hybrid. the front of the card was a digital card photo and the inside was a tag, stamped and embossed with a hand painted punched snowflake. of course i always do multiple stardust gel pen signatures from marc, me, the dogs and cat. have i every mentioned stardust gel pens? gosh i just LOVE them! they are beautiful no matter how or where you use them and the colors are FABULOUS. 

note: i recently found out that they are canceling the tv show pushing daisies. major disappointment in my life. i love that show. i knew it would happen sometime because: 1. i love it!; 2. it's a wonderfully creative show; and 3. did i mention that I LOVE IT? anyway, i have all the episodes aired so far on my ipod. i haven't watched last weeks episode. i'm saving it for a special time... enough said. if you get a chance to check it out, you will not be disappointed. apparently it is very expensive to produce and hasn't had enough viewers to continue production. there is talk about another network picking it up (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE), but we will see. in the meantime, i'm hoping my other fave show, life stays on the air. i'm not a cop show kind of person, but the zen influence on this show is enough to carry it and keep it interesting. i'm not sure where it's going with the story line, but it's interesting enough, suprising enough (i hate knowing what's going to happen in a show before it happens) and the music is great too. that's a plus. 

stay warm! ps - it's snowing tonight, but also freezing rain off and on. at daylight we will see what mother nature has up her sleeve for us. 

three day work week, four day weekend

i am a strong proponent of a 3 day work week with a 4 day weekend! ok - i know this will probably never happen in my lifetime anyway. but a girl can dream, can't she? i will take these moments when they come along and this weekend i have my wish. i did some shopping yesterday, but limited to rubberstamps and punches and antique stores. i picked up some lovely vintage sequins at an antique store in deerfield. dinner was at my favorite chinese restaurant. i will limit my purchase of "more stuff i don't need" and pretty much just support local art/craft stores for the holidays. ok - internet shops may get my business too, but in those cases where the local shops don't carry what i need/want.

today i got a few things done. worked on one of my projects in process. made another trip to our favorite antique store which is going out of business. every time we go there, i find more things. it's too bad that she's going out of business - it's not for a lack of inventory. so many cool things that i've found there... most will end up in future art projects. i will have to show you some of the things i've picked up there. hopefully tomorrow i will have time to take photos. in the meantime, here's a glimpse of what monday, 11/24/08 looked like when i awoke. the first snowfall. most of it has melted by now. just some remnants in the shaded grassy areas. tomorrow, sometime after noon, we are expecting up to four inches. winter is really here. i suppose it's only right. christmas is just a few short weeks away now. i put one of my little trees up yesterday. i have several mini christmas trees with tiny ornaments.

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).