Some thank yous, a weather update, and a temporary goodbye wave...

Have you noticed yet that the month of November has been *crazy* for weather here? Several more days of snow. Record breaking cold temperatures. Lots of ice on the roads with canceled school and work. Hundreds of car accidents. (I know, I know - we are totally wimps when it comes to snow. It just doesn't happen here very often or very much and therefore we are mostly unprepared to deal with it. And the biggest problem is always icy roads. They are always wet in the winter and if it is cold enough to snow, then all that water is freezing on the freeways. With limited snow-removal/de-icing equipment, it makes driving dangerous). They have been predicting another 6 inches of snow tonight, but then it is supposed to warm back up to our 'normal' grey, wet, 40-something degree weather...

The upside for my kids is that they really like getting surprise days off from school. I put them in charge of Christmas decorating, and they've put up the tree, decorated it and made good progress on some of the other decor. (It will be a week or so before I can even begin to think about it myself.


The intrepid postman, however, was not daunted by all the frigid, icy weather. He brought me *two* lovely packages this week. The first from the very talented PG with a treat-filled package including my order from Red Flannel Elephant cards. I so love her color sense, as well as her gently quirky and endearing characters. I am very pleased.



And the very sweet fairy known as NatureGirl sent a lovely package full of the scent of lavender, clouds of glitter and butterfly wings. The beautiful bird is already gracing our newly put-up tree. I am especially touched by her generosity. We at the SOSF were sponsoring a handmade card/ornament event for Christmas but I felt I'd better not participate this time around (I can NOT seem to do anything halfway, and the art deadlines for the near future are prohibitive... So to save myself from myself....) However, I was a little bit sad about bowing out [I have the coolest ornament I wanted to make! but alas... no time...] - so now I don't feel completely left out!

Speaking of deadlines, I must get back to them. This next one is particularly tight - and I don't know if I will have any more spare moments for the computer - for this next week at the least... (Occasionally - if I'm getting painting-tired and starting to make mistakes, I may check in, especially if there are any fairies to be thanked - but no promises)...

I *hope* to see you all again soon...