Say your prayers!

"Father forgive me for I have sinned..." Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I've said that, I'd be living in Hawaii eating pineapple and spending my days doing anything I so please. Well, if I had invested those nickels maybe.

I have a sudden new addiction. Making rosaries. I loved them them I was a child and I've found that I still love them. Moreso now that I'm making them and picking my own beads.

Here's my latest creation.

I cannot tell you how many times I fumbled my fingers over one of these when I was a child. I wasn't clever enough to tell the Father that I was a good girl. Noooo, I had to be precisely honest and tell him that I stuck my tongue out at the neighbour-boy and wouldn't go to the store for my mother. Then I'd have to say the rosary as penance. My rosary was made of dainty little pink pearls and I'm sure I don't still have them because I wore them down to nothing during my fervent repenting for my sins. ;)

Fast forward a quarter of a century *gulp* and now I have a fondness for them again and absolutely love making them. My Gran has a collection now as a result of my new addiction so it's time that I share them with someone else and so I'm listing them in my Etsy shop. I hope others like them as well.

Note to all you vampire slayers out there: I don't have them blessed before selling so please do not rely on them to save you from the creatures of the night. Tongue sticking? Maybe. Vampires? Attempt at your own risk.

Days full of nothing can be so fulfilling.

Huh? Yes, that's right.


We spent a day of doing absolutely nothing. Well, nothing other than whatever we wanted to do. No chores (other than general cleaning up after ourselves), no schedules, no rules, and no hair brushes. The Magpie did her homework this morning, the little Prince visited a buddy this afternoon, and I made jewelry, cooked, and cuddled with the goggie. It was beautiful.

My throat is also feeling so much better today. I still feel like someone is sitting on my chest but hot tea and a nice warm house is easing that strain. It's nice to eat real food again. See what I had for breakfast! Mmm... I don't much care for brewing a whole pot of coffee for just myself when Mr. B isn't home, but despite my best efforts, making half a pot just never works. So, even though I only had one cup an entire pot was made and my fingers fumbled for my Wicked mug. My tummy and my spirit are happy today.

Fast forward. It's now evening, the lasagna is in the oven, the kidlets are watching Home Alone, and I'm posting the fruit of my labours on Etsy. One of said accomplishments today was my "Love for Nie" bracelet and I have to say that I'm so pleased with how it turned out. It's almost exactly what I had imagined. Of course, I have a very vivid imagination and so in my head it was floofy and full and the bird could actually fly, but I think this is a pretty close second.

This one is a gift for Nie and will be mailed out to her tomorrow. Others will be made for anyone who would like their own family or friends photos and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Nie Recovery fund. See my listing on Etsy for more info.

Well, the lasagna is all bubbly and ready to come out of the oven so I'll be toddling off now. I think we'll eat, clean up the dishes, put in some laundry, and then do a whole lot more of nothing.

Surprises are lovely things.

Twas a day full of surprises and it was glorious. No, there was no party with people popping out of closets or behind sofas. I did not win the lottery. It was not my birthday or anything else like that. It was just an ordinary day full of tasks that I never finished (not unlike any other day really) but it was the little unexpected things that happened that made it extraordinary.

First, I was thinking about my new friend Justine today and had a hunch that I just might see her at the bead shop. I thought nothing more of it. What are the chances that she'd be there at the exact same time that I decided to wander in? Pretty good apparently because when I walked in, there she sat. It was very nice to see her and that made me happy.

Later, we came home and met with the neighbour who wants to hire the Magpie for babysitting. That turns out to be quite a lucrative position for her and we're thrilled. It was just such a big fat warm and fuzzy to hear them say how much they and their kids love her and it was such a relief to know that she's not going to have to find a part time job in retail or in a fast food joint. She's in high school now and needs a little more money that we can offer but doesn't want to jeopardize her school work by having a job with crazy long shifts after school. This gig is perfect!

This next bit happened somewhere in the middle of the others but just came to mind now. I'm not so sure if this qualifies as a surprise but rather a teeny bit of an embarrassing yet very amusing moment. We were visited this morning by two young fellows who wanted to share a piece of scripture from the Bible with me while my dog wanted nothing more than to lick their skin clean off. I held him back. No young man dressed as nicely as they were and who was as pleasant to a half dressed, greasy haired woman with no make up as they were, deserves dog slobber all over them. He's shivering, nervous, and clearly concerned about the dog attacking him, or so I thought anyway. I politely tell him that I can save him a bit of time and explain to him that we are a Catholic family and that Mr. B could probably recite that piece from memory. He smiles, says thanks, and suggests that maybe another time he could read to me. I smile, thank him for his time, close the door, and look in the mirror. I'm wearing Mr. B's orange "Dawn of the Dead" T-shirt that I sleep in when he's away. Nice. I hope the dog really was the one making him nervous. Poor fellow. I need to learn to get dressed earlier on weekends.

I have a few jewelry orders that I need to get done this weekend as well as a few orders that need to be packaged and shipped so I start to manage that, log in to my shop, and find that I've sold a whole stack of more stuff. Excellent! There are a few supplies I've been coveting but the rule is that I can't buy more until I sell more so guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Shopping for more cool supplies! That may not sound like fun but to me, it's almost as good as shoe shopping.

Okay, so then the big surprise. The last I'd heard from Mr. B, he was going to be working late in the hangar and would call me later. I text him a few times but get no replies. Then, he calls. We're chatting, the doorbell rings, the little Prince and I do our thing to clear the dog from the door and who should be standing there but MR. B HIMSELF! I cried, because I'm a baby like that. Sometimes.

There you have it. All that coupled with the free coffee and cake (I only had coffee) that they were offering at Staples today and my day was just swell.

Now if you'll excuse me, although Mr. B is sleeping I'm going to go and enjoy being in his presence for the next day or so... or until Thursday.

Me, Mr. B, and My New Tape Dispenser

It's that day again. The day that Mr. B goes back to work. Those are the sad days. Once he's there and working and I get back into my routine with the kidlets, all is okay. It's that first hour or so that I spend in bed alone that is the most difficult to survive. But I always do, and so I did today as well.

All that being said, I'm pretty proud of the nom-noms that I sent him with this time. When he left this morning he had 25 meals all neatly packed away in individual containers and frozen to last the duration of his stay. Let's not also forget the bread. Apparently I'm famous for my bread at the hangar. <-- is that how you spell that?

Here's what Mr. B is surviving on for dinners until he's back under my care.

Beef Stew

Chicken & Dumplings
Lasagna

Sausage & Rice Cassarole

Homemade Bread

Fast forward through a horrible day at work. I'm home, the kidlets and I are fed, and the little magpie and I are making more jewelry to post on Etsy tomorrow. I call Mr. B to see how his day was and to update him on mine. Then it's off to the postal unit at the pharmacy to mail the orders that were sold yesterday and today. Suddenly, as if the angels were shining a beacon right down on something they new was created just for me, I saw this when we were leaving the store. Packing my orders was never as much fun as it's about to be!

Could it be any more perfect? I thought not.

Now it's time to extract the soggie froot loops from the bowl that the magpie left on the counter and get my behind to bed. One more sleep is one less day I have to wait for Mr. B to return home.

Sweet Dreams.

It's official, I'm a TWERD!

What is a TWERD you might ask? Well, it's very simple. TWilight obsessed nERD.

Yep, I'm addicted to Twilight. In fact, I've been rather irritated lately that I have had to pause on re-reading the series for the second time because of a course I'm taking. Oh well, only two more classes and one assignment and I'll be back in the land of vampires.

How obsessed am I? Well, let's see. My BFF (I love using that acronym - it makes me feel like I'm 13 again) and I have been doing nothing lately but talking about Twilight and making Twilight inspired jewelry. I've ensured that we have booked the movie for our theatre (for those who don't know, I'm also a projectionist at a small, historic, 2 screen theatre). I'll be attending the premiere and I've booked the day off work to see it again on opening day... maybe twice... or more. Yes, my friends... it's bad. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Edward Cullen is my imaginary boyfriend and Jacob Black is hers. Be jealous, it's perfectly natural.

So there you have it folks. If you think you're a TWERD too, I'd love to hear from you. We can be twerdy together. Also, for those of you (attn: Capital Crafters) who live close, if you're interested in being my guest for the premiere send me an email and I'll give you the deets.

I'm off to dream up some more swag to create for my Etsy shop now, Twilight inspired of course. Stay tuned.