This New Year

stillness

solitude

beauty

love

This new year... most of all

I wish you peace

Ebay & Etsy Shops COME TAKE A LOOK

An art deco glass trinket dish, currently on etsy.

Queen Victoria & King George Coin bracelet, earliest coin dates
1896, three pence coins. Currently on etsy.

Lovely bracelet with turquoise beads, on etsy!

These great, enameled laboratory dishes are on etsy.

Beautiful butterfly seed bead embellishment awaits a crafty etsy-er.

Circa 1941 or 42 syrup decanter on etsy.

The lovely hand mirror above, dated 1891, sold.

Treasured forget-me-not stick/collar pin from Victorian era, on ebay sold.

These salt and pepper shakers, marked ITALY await you on etsy, too!

ALL ITEMS ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE (unless otherwise marked) and for sale at my etsy and ebay shops! Please click on link to the right for etsy shop.

My ebay user ID is: THANKNUKINDLY

Please visit my shops often as I am adding items regularly (I am on winter break) and would love to see you there!

Holiday Wishes From My ELF Family

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Would You Mind, Santa?

Santa, would you mind dropping this down my chimney on Christmas?

Okay, I Decorated A REAL Tree, Too!

* that's a lotta cookies! *

* my great-nephew Ezra helps decorate cookies *

So, I decorated a tree and COOKIES, too!

We also had our family combined Christmas/Thanksgiving this weekend.

It's been a busy but great week!

I Decorated The Tree Today!

Well, yes, I did decorate A tree tonight.

A 3 and a half inch tree, that is!!!

LOL

Guess I better get on it, since Christmas is right around the corner!

(out to the garage I go...)

He's 19 now

This, is Matt.

This is MY family.

My boy is now 19, as of last Tuesday!

My, how time flies!

I remember taking the picture of him in the penguin suit, all nine pounds of him.

As if it were yesterday.

His whole world ahead of him then, and still today!

I love you, Matt!

The Big Beast Who Caused The Big Fall

Okay it wasn't really funny at the time...

The beast isn't the sweet little old lady, my ancient Quilly who is 14 or 15, can barely see or hear. No, it wasn't her fault.

It is the thing BEHIND her that caused the big fall.

Pellet stoves require a lot of attention. You have to drag 40 pound bags into the house.
Then the beast must be fed at least twice a day. And on occasion, you must clean the belly of the beast or the beast won't work at all.

That happened this morning. So I shut the beast down, scooped out smoldering pellet cinders and ashes in a little metal pot with a lid. Carried the pot outside to dump it out.

Then, my foot hit ice. Actually both feet hit ice, I slipped, then landed forward, smacking both of my knees and my right palm on the concrete. Guess what happened to the smoldering pot full of cinders and ashes?

It popped open onto my OTHER hand.

Immediately realizing that a burning coal was on my left index finger and causing major steam, I jumped up, then I did the thing most people do when they feel kindof silly for falling:

I looked around and felt embarrassed, hoping nobody saw.

Now, safe inside, with the beast fully ablaze, my knees and hand ache and I have a huge
blister on my finger that is killing me! My son gave me a medicated bandaid that looks like a slice of bacon (you'd have to know my son).

The beast must be fed, cleaned and emptied. But never underestimate freezing rain.

Finally! The final Final!

Ah what a relief!

Finally, my final final of the term was completed TONIGHT!

I am done with fall term and have a break till January 4th.

The shelf on my desk, as pictured above, has been lined
with these little sticky reminders to keep me
organized. I have been adding them and plucking them
off all term. Finally I have taken the last one off tonight! It feels
good to have them cleared off for now!

Now it is time to focus on CHRISTMAS!

Happy holidays everyone! Stay warm!

It was a good fight...

One beaver in a sea of ducks, that was me.

It was a great game: Beavers versus Ducks in the Civil War game on Dec. 3rd.

We didn't lose by much, and mostly because the Ducks let the clock run out at the end....

A cold, cold night, but an exciting game we fought well to the finish.

Go BEAVS!!!!

Ponderings on Old Pictures

... a little humor...

same woman?

* from an album dated 1908 *

Do you ever wonder about old pictures like these?
I see them all the time when I am out and about in search of jewelry inventory for my
etsy business. Sometimes I can't help but buy a few and take them home.
My sister buys them if they have names, then tries to find the family.
I just like to take them home cause maybe noone else will.
And I hate to see treasures like these without a home.
How does that happen, anyway?

It's not just the faces in the photos that get me. I also like the furniture.
And the jewelry. And sometimes I just love how a human can be
contorted to look like they have the waist of our beloved Barbie.
How do they DO that? And still breathe?