All Time High on the Monthly Post Count

Acknowledging everyday blessings today:

1) Slept in a little later than usual and so did the kids

2) Good day at work - busy, no conflicts, no drama, plenty to do and finished all my projects with a few minutes to catch my breath and enjoy the ride home

3) All housework completed

4) Pizza for dinner and no dishes to wash

5) Highest post count for one month in the history of the blog (30--only missed one day!)

6) Looking forward to tomorrow as pseudo-Friday since it's the last day of my work week

7) Face washed and teeth brushed - feels good to be clean :)

8) Fresh sheets and blankie for bedtime

Bedtime!

Still have a lot to finish, but I'm out of daylight, so to speak. I guess since that darned bathroom won't clean itself, it'll keep till tomorrow.

;-0

Rambling

Noticed today that I'm almost up to 3,000 views and this month also marks the all-time high on monthly post counts. :) Got the fridge cleaned off! Woohoo! Forgot to mention something else I found during yesterday's retrograde: the Thanksgiving card and pictures I had taken to give to Nana Shuman! They were in a grocery bag on top of the fridge, along with some very old Turkey Day cookies. Ewwww! The kids played Break the Ice yesterday and had a grand time hitting the ice cube blocks.

Retrograde

When I lived in Sarasota, I knew a sparkly lady named Patti. She had light red hair and wore flowy skirts with pretty shoes. I noticed that people flocked around her. She drew them like a magnet, attracting all kinds of people into all kinds of conversation despite the fact that she had a really quiet voice. When I chatted with her once, she said that she didn't think I'd live there very long since I had moved there when a few of the planets were in retrograde. In hindsight it sounds a bit strange and maybe a little airy-fairy, but I didn't think of it as such; I just wondered what she meant. So I asked her. She said when some planets turned retrograde, it meant they were moving or directed backward from their usual orbit. During this time period it seemed that people would lose things. I must've frowned because then she said, "Oh, but people find things too, like something you misplaced a while back, or something you put somewhere special but then it went out of your mind for a while." She'd touch you while she spoke, and it gave you the feeling that she was an authentic and caring person. A few months later when I told her I was moving back to Sebring, she just grinned broadly with an air that said, "Yep, told ya so," but the friendly way that said, Remember when we talked about that?

Ever since then, it's been part of my family shorthand to say, "The planets must be in retrograde," if I'm having a particularly irksome day. Still, any time I find something that I've tucked away for one reason or another, I laugh to myself and think of Patti L. Today when I cleaned off the fridge (yessssssssssssss!!!!), I found several old photographs and to say I was delighted about them doesn't begin to tell it. The serendipity of all of it was sublime! :)

There was the only picture of me with Sam & kids on my 40th birthday, and some great black & white pictures I took of John Sam and Sam with Caroline. Priceless expressions!!! Still farther down in the back of the stack were two photos from May 2003. They were taken by my friend Kelly Seiler Borsheim when she and her husband and adopted son, Rudy, came to visit me and meet the kids. One was me holding Caroline, who was 5-1/2 months old. The other showed John Sam petting Beamer, and my hand just over Beamer's head getting ready to pet him. When Beamer passed away, I remember wailing that I hadn't taken enough pictures of him that were more recent than the ones I had. The one Kelly took was so sweet; it warmed my heart a lot and I treasure it all the more because Beamer looks just like I remember him. Guess which pictures are going on deck for scrap pages?!

Took a lot of "before" pictures today. I got a lot accomplished and will wrap up tomorrow, take some "after" pix, and call it a great weekend.

Planning Ahead

Not a lot to say tonight. Glad the work week is over. I was busy today and it made the day fly by. Next week will be a short week for me as I'm taking a couple of days off for spring break. Things are much different this year than last year at this time.

My "therapist" has been having me keep a mood journal and it's been somewhat of a stress relief to pinpoint my ever-changing mood and write briefly about it. I guess it's like letting it flow and then sending it out into the Universe--I don't have to cuddle with it or worry about it anymore, ha.

I plan to spend a lot of time doing things I want to do this weekend instead of only doing stuff I have to do. I've been mulling over some scrap layouts and want to finish those and some other little projects around the house. I've been neglecting my rosebushes in the worst way. I hope to get them all spruced up, and then let the rains wash them clean with a good soaking. I also have quite the pile of reading materials to dig into.

Let the relaxing begin!

The Problem Area

Ok, so it's not the world's most critical problem. It's just one of those little teeny weeny things that annoys me constantly as I am in the kitchen area most of the week. I can't stand how my fridge looks like a total mess! I didn't find the time (yet) to remedy this situation, but I did have a minute to take pictures of the last night it's going to look like this:

Hump Day Is Over

Been having a good week so far. Things don't seem to be irritating me nearly as much as last month, LOL. Work is going well, and I haven't thought about buying "Skinny & Sweet" even one time this week. But I did think it was Thursday night and I was about to turn on CSI. Have to wait till tomorrow to get my forensic fix.

Background noise:

John Sam is doing math homework with his dad. He was adding from left to right instead of the other way around, and was none too happy to have to re-do everything. I can hear that it's almost done and bedtime is nigh.

Caroline finally lost one of her top front teeth today, and was devastated when she opened her little tooth box and tried to show it to her dad--it had broken into three little pieces. (She'd bumped it on the playground a while back and it was probably cracked.) So Daddy told her that maybe the Tooth Fairy would leave $3? She was unconvinced and not to be consoled.

Got my lottery tix and gettin' my mind right to win the big one so I can call in RICH tomorrow! Don't bother checkin' your numbers - I got the one, baby.

:)

Literacy Night

Tonight we went to Literacy Night at the kids' school. Pizza, soda, popcorn, Ding-Dongs, contests, art projects, books and free T-shirts. There was also a bit of burping, laughing, running and socializing.

Happy One Year Anniversary To Franabelle's Fancy

Make your own Blinkie

One year ago today, I started this blog. I'm proud of it and happy that I've been able to keep it going. It's become important to me and it makes me feel good when other people tell me that they enjoy it too.

Here's to another great year of blogging!

Spring Cleaning

Cleaned up some clutter today. I heard a segment on Mix 105.1 about decluttering. (I believe it was the same fellow who was on Oprah and got famous after cleaning/decluttering the one lady's house who ended up with two 10,000 sq. ft. warehouses full of stuff she was hoarding in a 3,000 sq. ft. home. Bugs me that I can't think of his name right now.) More interesting were the emotional reasons people "hoard" or allow an area or areas to get & stay cluttered. Seems like spring and cleaning have always gone hand in hand. Repeat after me: I am not hoarding!

Tomorrow I will post a before & after pic of an area that has been in need of a declutter for a while. I know the project won't take that long to get through, and I'm thinking how I'll feel satisfied with a job well done and how it'll make me happier in a small--and kinda kooky--way, and this will motivate me to get my next project done.

When I do it this way, I discover I have more time than I think I have to get things accomplished. :)