Thursday Musings

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a great week so far. My has been pretty busy. It is very strange to be working without Paige around. I never realized how quiet Kelly and I are until Paige left, lol. Evidently, she was even louder than we thought. I really miss her though. We are interviewing a few people today and tomorrow but who knows if they will work out. I would rather we keep struggling along just me and Kelly than hire the wrong person. When you work so close with just a few people, it really has to be the right fit to work. Lord knows, we have had the wrong ones here before and it was miserable. Maybe one of these folks will work out. I am also excited about a 2nd sorta job I have taken on. There is a new chiropractor in Decatur. He just graduated from school in May and he is starting to build his practice. He doesn't know ANYTHING about the insurance or business side of things though. So starting Saturday, I am going to go try to help him and his assistant understand the baffling world that is insurance. He is a super sweet guy, I almost feel guilty for getting paid to help him.

Other than that, not much is happening this week. I need to get back to selling stuff on Ebay this weekend. I took several weeks off during the holidays. I still have quite a bit of scrapbook stuff I need to get rid of. Lord knows I need the room in my studio. Speaking of which, I have been working really hard on cleaning and organizing in there. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share this weekend. That way folks can see where my creative magic takes place, lol. I am also working on character outlines for my first book. I thought it would make sense to try to put down all the basic facts about the characters before I start to write the stories. Keep in mind, these characters have existed in my head forever. The main ones have been around since I was about 16. It is so very surreal for me to write these names down. I know it sounds corny but they have existed in my head for so long that to see something tangible on paper freaks me out a little. Please bear with my madness as I try to work through my fears. Writing still terrifies the crap out of me. It is by leaps and bounds the most personal thing I could ever do. I really appreciate all the love and support. I don't want to let you down.

I think I will end today with a quote. A few weeks ago at work we received a sample of a pocket calendar from some printing company. I kept it so that I would have one to put in my purse for 2009. I was going through it today putting in birthdays and such and I realized they have quotes from all sorts of famous people on each week. I squealed when I saw that the quote for this week was from none other than my beloved J.K. Rowlings. Her genius now ranks up there with former presidents and philosophers. Plus, this happens to be one of my favs from all her books.

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Reflections for the New Year

Hello all. I hope everyone has had a wonderful New Year's so far. I didn't do anything special last night. Just worked in my scrapbook room and then read for awhile before I went to sleep. New Year's eve has never been a big deal for me. Today I watched the Rose parade and then watched football. Now that is a fav part of the day. I promised I would be back today to talk about goals for the new year. Please note that I don't use the word "resolution". For some reason I hate that word. To me, it has the same connotation of the word "diet". Both seemed doomed to fail. That is why I prefer to call my aspirations for the new year "goals" instead. That way they don't have that bad luck name attached to them. So here it goes.

-- I will stop feeling sorry for myself. This includes beating myself up, thinking I am not good enough for something or someone and all related nonsense. I believe this is my absolute worse quality and it is what is holding me back from my dreams. I have to get past myself, then anything is possible.

--I will focus on my writing. I feel I am being called to do this. I always have but I have always been crippled by fear. I am tired of denying things. I am tired of being afraid. This is something I really want and I am going to try my best to go after it.

--I will share my creative gifts more. I have so many ideas and plans for gifts and cards and such but I never seem to get them done. I always have an excuse. Deep down, again it goes back to me judging myself and thinking nothing is ever good enough. I am just being stupid. So I plan to shut up and use the massive studio I have built and stop assuming that everyone will laugh at what I do.

--I will work on radiating a positive energy where ever I go. I don't want to be a downer. If you think positive thoughts, then you will get positive thoughts in return.

--I will let my friends and family know how essential they are to me. I don't want to just assume that anyone knows how much the mean to me. Everyone should be told they are loved and often !!

well that is the gist of my plan. I know they all sorta sound alike but they aren't really. I am just so worn down and tired of feeling bad or not good enough. I have come to realize that no one can help me with this. I have to find peace and love within myself. I am really going to put all my energy toward this. I hope that everyone else will share their goals too. That way we can all support and help one another. I know we will have have a fabulous 2009 together.

Happy Tuesday

Just thought I would pop in and say hello to everyone. I wanted to share some of the cutest little owl things I bought at Target the other day. These are just too cute. I think they are supposed to be for Valentine's Day. They were just putting things out. I also got a large place mat that I am using under my keyboard. They have a pillow that matches too but I didn't get it. Maybe I will ask for it for my birthday. I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years Eve. I will be back on Thursday to talk about goals for next year. Hope everyone will share theirs as well.

Merry Christmas to All !!!

Hello and Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone was able to spend a wonderful day with their families. I have spent a quiet day at home with my mom and dad. Now I still get to enjoy 3 more days off. YIPPEE !!!! I thought I would put a few pictures of some of my favorite gifts from my parents. They are very random, just like me. I got several of the books I had been dying for. I am super excited about my Harry Potter Clue game. I need some volunteers to play it with me. Of course I got some scrapbooking goodies. I love the 2 new ornaments I got. The frame holds a picture of my sweet Frosty and the other is the prettiest white owl.

I hope to hear about everyone elses Christmas too. Have a great weekend.

Friday Christmas Fun

Hi folks, sorry I haven't blogged this week. I have just been so busy with getting ready for Christmas. Friday was a super fun day. I went to pick up Amelia for our book club and took Kendall & Landon's Christmas presents. It is so much fun to see Kendall open hers now since she is so into it. She cracked up up !! She kept saying, "oh my goodness" while Amelia was showing her everything in her box. Then of course she had to open Landon's too. I just adore these 2 little ones. They are my babies.

Then it was off to Limestone county to Shannon's for our book club meeting. We had such a great time as always. I just love these girls. We always spend the whole time laughing our heads off. We played dirty Santa with books and had a blast. I got "The Friday Night Knitting Club" which is one I have been wanting to read.

Have a great day. I hope to blog some more Christmas greetings soon.

Christmas fun with the girls.

Last night we had our annual Christmas party at Amber's. We had our empanada's with cheese dip & guacamole as always. Really good stuff. We all got tons of great presents. Twilight love was present as always. I got a fabulous carousel of scissors from Jaime that I have wanted for awhile. I got 3 great movies from Amelia and a super fab Twilight movie book from Amber. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends. I have tons more Christmas fun coming up later this week. I will be sure to update with tons of pics. Here are some shots from the party plus, per Amelia's request, some pics of my scrapbook room tree.

Long Time No Blog

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I have posted. It is such a busy time of year. I finally got both Christmas trees put up. I would be one of those crazy folks with like 10 trees, all with different themes, if I had my own house. I have the most fab little tree in my scrapbook room. It is all purple and other bright colors with all my owls and penguins on it. I also have some Paris stuff on it too. Totally me.

Last Saturday I went to Nashville with the girls for our annual shopping trip. Usually we spend the night but since Landon is so small, we decided to just make it an all day thing. Opry Mills was crazy as always. I go the most incredible deal on a Fossil Alabama purse at the outlet. It is a $118 purse I have been lusting over for a couple of years. It was marked down to $29.99 with an extra 25% off. I was just stupid giddy with myself. The girls were so laughing at me dancing around in the store. It was the shopping find of the millennium.

Sunday I went to a baby shower for Jennifer. I can't believe she is having twin girls. She got so many wonderful things. It makes my biological clock start ticking louder and louder. I would give anything to have a baby. Unfortunately, it just doesn't appear to be in the cards for me. I guess I will just have to shower all my love on my niece and nephews. Yes, please note that I said nephews. Jaime found out Monday that we are adding another little boy to the family. It makes my heart swell just thinking about little Noah Emerson coming. From the day I met Jaime, she has always wanted a little boy named Noah. It brings tears to my eyes to think that he is finally on his way. I am so happy for her and Brandon.

This weekend I get to have my first Christmas gathering. This one is at Amber's with the girls. It will be fun as always. Next week I have work parties, one for just us and another where we go out to eat with Dr Hardy. It is kinda sad though, since our party will really be a going away party for Paige. Her last day is next Friday. Even though she drives me insane, I will miss her terribly. She is like my incredibly annoying little sister. Then we get to have a super party with the book club on Friday. I am so excited about that since I was sick and had to miss last time.

Oh well, I promise I will try to not wait another 2 weeks before I post again. I am sure I will have all sorts of party stories to share.