Glass Bottle Art and Prim Crow Candle

These are a couple things I've done this past week. I really like how the glass jar turned out. It looks all grunged up - aged with distress ink and crinklies!




And a prim crow candle. I've never painted on a candle before. It was kinda fun!

What will the New Giveaway Goody Be?

Hmmmmm...what will the new giveaway goody be once I hit 40 followers? Decisions, decisions. I better decide soon because I'm at 37 followers now! Yay! Thank you all so much for signing up and getting the word out!

Using SEO to Get Your Selling Blog Noticed

Using SEO (search engine optimization) to get your selling blog noticed by google isn’t rocket science, though it may seem like it at first. To put it simply, SEO is using keywords throughout your blog entries in order to get your blog noticed and indexed by google and other various search engines.

At this point, you may be wondering what a keyword is. Keywords are the words and phrases people type into a search engine in order to find more information about that particular topic. When they type in the subject they’re looking for into the search bar, they expect to get a list of websites that have mentioned that word or words.

For instance, if you want to find fabric on sale, you type into your search engine “fabric on sale.” Of course, that will bring up thousands of websites. These websites are listed in order of how many times they have written somewhere on their various pages “fabric on sale.” The age of a website or blog also helps with getting it higher up in the search engine, as well as one way links to that blog or site. (More on that later).

The first thing you need to do is to draw up a list of keywords for the items you sell on your blog. It’s always good to brainstorm with your family and friends on this list since we all think of differently and thus, may think of different words or phrases. You can also use this handy tool. Check the option “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms.” And my oh my, what a wealth of information that handy little bugger will give you!

Once you have a list of your keywords, you’ll then know what to write about on your blog. Don’t cram all the keywords into one entry, though. It’s best to concentrate on one or two keywords or keyword phrases and write specifically about them. For the clients I write for, I usually write between 150 to 200 word entries, using a couple of the keywords or keyword phrases twice throughout each entry. By the way, more is not better in this case. If you smother your blog post with that keyword several times, the search engines will consider you to be trying to unfairly get higher rankings and they’ll blacklist you. You definitely don’t want that!

Another way of getting your keywords out there – without it being counted against you by the search engines as being too much – is to take advantage of categories or labels. On the Blogspot platform, it is directly below the box you type your entry in – i.e., “Labels for this post: e.g., scooters, vacation, fall.” Type in your keywords in that box that your particular blog post revolves around.

Two other quick and handy ways of getting your keywords on your blog post, but without fear of being blacklisted, is putting your keyword or keyword phrase in the title of the blog entry and naming any photos with those keywords. When you save a picture on your computer, label it as the keyword or keyword phrases it revolves around. Then, when you upload it to your blogging platform, it will include that in the title; the spyders that crawl websites looking for keywords will index and add those use of keywords to your tally of keywords.

Seeing is believing, so right click on any picture on a blog. Go all the way down to “Properties,” and then check out the very end of the line that has “Location” on it. Sometimes this is a very long line, so simply highlight it and carry it all the way to the end of that line. Near the end of that long line – before the .jpg or .gif extension – is the name of the photo that the person who uploaded the picture named it on his/her computer. You might as well take advantage of that extra place to put your keyword in!

Before I continue on with any more tips, please post any comments or questions in the comments section. I’ll try to answer them as best I can. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find out for you!

For Part 2, please see SEO and Links.

Another Goody Added to My Blog Giveaway

As I mentioned in my original blog giveaway post, I would add another something to give away once I reached 30 followers. And I did! Yay!

So here's a rag quilt bag, made out of fabric I had left over from my brightly colored rag quilt and my blues rag quilt. It's been washed and dried once to get that "raggy" affect going. The more you put it through the washer and dryer, the cuddlier it'll look!





I think it'd be a great bag to stash fabric and other craft supplies in. Hmmm...I should probably make a bunch for myself, instead of putting my stashes in those ugly grocery plastic bags!

Another something extra will be added to the blog giveaway once I reach 40 followers!

A Creative Weekend

I had a very creative weekend. I got to spend a lot of time experimenting and trying new things. Wanna see?

Soy tarts. Not sure if this is how you make them, though I've seen several with a bunch of stuff in them, like this:


They're in a yummy, yummy, YUMMY fragrance called Vanilla Rum Cake. Mmmmm mmmmm!

Also finally tried my hand at mixed media glass art. With this bottle, I had every side be different. One plain because I like the texture.



Can you see the oopsie? I put wax paper on top of the picture so I could put something heavy to help get the glue to stick. Welllll...wax paper doesn't work. Peeled part of the picture right off. It actually makes it look like one of those old time photos, though. You know how some of those photos have globs on the negatives? Kinda like that. Also looks like it might be part of her hair adornment.

One side for Easter:



And one side for Christmas:



I'll probably put little wood or paper mache eggs on little dowels and stick them in the jar for Easter, and little Christmas trees on little dowels for Christmas.

Also made another little jar. Love the color!



I wanted to try a fabric embellishment instead of a photo; hence, the fabric heart glued on. I'll put little fabric hearts on sticks in this jar.

Also finished up making some Valentine's gift for my swap partner on the Prim Pals Forum. Can't show you the pictures just yet cuz she might see this post!

Worked on a quilt last week, but I fell in love with it too much to sell it. So now it's mine, all mine!! It still needs binding and sewing up the edges. Not sure when I'll get around to that since I want to really start making a bunch of things for my Etsy shop.



The black and white blur is Tessa, running through life as she usually does - lol! She had to sniff the quilt because she hadn't seen it before and then quick run away. But no, I don't let my dogs or cats sniff the things I'm going to sell. I take pictures of those in a separate room or up away from them!



I'm also going to start a multiple part series on SEO and how to get your selling blog noticed. Stay tuned for that. I have over thirty pages of articles I wrote for someone about this subject a couple years ago. Gotta go through all those articles, pick out what applies to selling blogs, and then rewrite them. Hopefully I can get the first installment posted by the end of this week. Stay tuned.

Oh, and hopefully soon I can get to 30 followers so I can add another little goody to the giveaway!

Gratitude, Part 2

Well, my newfound contentment and attitude of gratitude got a test yesterday. It was just one of those days where a bunch of annoying little things piled up. Kind of like that saying of death by a thousand papercuts - lol!

It all started with discovering that the inbred's Rottweiler got into my trash and spread it all over my front porch and part of my front yard. I could tell it was the inbred's dog due to the paw prints and the fact that the lid to the garbage can was torn off. No cat could do that. The sturdy hinge that kept it from being opened to easily by cats was torn off and the lid was all bent. Then to be treated to the inbred dog's pooping and peeing all over my yard isn't too pleasant either. Of course, it upsets my dogs, but since the inbred has the right last name, he's allowed to do whatever he wants.

He's even now disrupting the peace and quiet of the town with his revving of his several snowmobiles. (Wow, they're loud). When we first moved here, a friend of my son's came over driving his snowmobile. Within 20 minutes of his arrival, the sheriff came by and told him it's illegal to drive the snowmobile in town. Of course, my son's friend didn't have an inbred last name, so he got in trouble. The inbreeds here can do no wrong.

At any rate, trash strewn all over my porch and yard didn't start the day off on a bright note, but life is what it is. Then the puppy wanted to constantly go outside (probably trying to eat the various crumbs of the trash I couldn't pick up because it was pretty much frozen into the ground by the time I discovered it). Then she barked incessantly. (Now she's barking at the snowmobile. Although now it looks like one of his snowmobiles isn't working, cuz he's being towed by a truck. * giggle* )

Then I had to do a writing job I don't particularly care to do. Now usually when I receive these types of writing jobs, I procrastinate. I dunno...I guess I hope the end of the world will come about so I don't have to do them - lol! But procrastinating only draws out my misery. There have been days that I resist doing certain writing assignments because I have to pretend I like something and give it glowing reviews. (Ugh, I hate doing that)! So, since I put it off, my "misery" lasts a whole heck of a lot longer than if I would quickly do the job.

Yesterday, I decided to be grateful for the job and went right to work. I psyched myself up when I woke up. Usually I get out of bed and think "Ugh, my whole day is ruined cuz I have to do that icky stuff." But I put a more positive spin on it. "Today, I'm grateful for this work. I'll be getting half a week's pay for just three or four hours of work." And voila! I wrote the thing up and finished pretty quickly. The words just flowed, which was great! Plus, I didn't have it hanging over my head, permeating my day. Yay!

Tessa the puppy still is an annoyance, but it's a self contained annoyance. I just looked outside because both my dogs are now barking, and...ee gads...the rottweilers are multiplying. There's now two of them in the street. Ugh!

Anyhoo, Tessa being annoying didn't affect the rest of my day. Before, I would have let it. That, and living in this icky town. When a couple of my friends visited me (on separate occasions), they each said the town reminded them of the movies Deliverance and Children of the Corn - lol! I hadn't seen either movie at that point, but I got their drift. I did see the former, and yep, I can see that comparison - lol!

So yeah, I could've done my usual drift into self pity and woe is me, "I must've died and gone to hell" routine, but I didn't. I still dislike intensely living amongst these terrible people, but I have a wonderful house that's paid for and a wonderful view out my back window. (As to how terrible the people are in this town, if you disagree with them, they'll deliberately run your kittens down in front of your eyes and kill them all. Or call child protective services on you. Yep, that happened. Not to me, but to a friend of mine. Just the usual harassment they do around here against the non-inbreds).

Am I still chipper and full of contentment despite a couple issues being brought up yesterday? Yes, I still am. I had plenty of happy moments throughout the day, all over a steadily building foundation of contentment. Whew...hope I pass the next tests!

My First Giveaway!

Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm having a giveaway. As it stands now, I have 22 followers. I want to thank all of you for signing up to follow this new little blog on the prairie!

So...as they say, here's the deal. I'm going to be giving away three spiced cranberry scented grungy/grubby "candles." They're heavily scented, so you can't burn them. Plus, they have little twigs as the wicks, so no burning! They're just for decorative purposes.




Once I reach 30 followers, I will add another little goody. Then with 40 followers, I'll add something else. With each increment of ten followers, I'll add another little gift.

I'll announce the winner on February 14th; the cut-off for signing up will be 11:59 pm on February 13th. Unfortunately, due to the high costs of postage, I'll have to limit the giveaway to U.S. and Canadian addresses only.

Not only is this giveaway in celebration of the turning of the new year, but it's also to celebrate my birthday and my son's, which are in February.

In order to enter, simply leave a comment on this post and become a follower. For four chances to win, put a link to this giveaway on your blog's sidebar, and let me know in your comment that you've done so.

For another chance, since the drawing is on Valentine's Day, tell me about your first love. Mine was named (and I'm sure still is - lol) John Patrick Durkin. I was in 7th grade, and I was just waaaaay too shy to ever talk to him. I finally talked to him in high school, as I was moving to another state. Go figure!

Edited to add: I reached 30 followers, so here's another item added to the giveaway.

I reached 40 followers, so here's another goody added to the giveaway

I reached 50 followers, so here's another thing added to the giveaway.

Gratitude

My life is definitely not how I envisioned it. Because of that, I guess you could say I've had a midlife crisis for the past couple years. You know...the regrets...the self-recrimination...the what could have beens. There were so many opportunities that I let slip past. There for awhile, I was kind of drowning in all my regrets. Geez, it seemed every hour there was a reminder of what could have been. With such a mindset, every thought kind of spiraled into more regret. I wouldn't say I had a full fledged depression, but oh boy...soooo much sadness and regret. So many "what ifs" and "what could have beens."

But life is what you make of it. Ohhhh, I've heard that many times...the ol' positive thinking, law of attraction...blahblah. It's hard to put into motion, especially when you want...nay, NEED...immediate positive reinforcement for your positive thoughts. How can you keep up with this positive thinking when there is so much crap and regrets around you? It's hard to re-map your thinking; you NEED reinforcement for your new way of thinking, and you need it NOW! How else will you find the fortitude to keep on keeping on with a new and positive way of thinking?

But sometimes, when we least expect it...after years of wanting to think positively...it comes. No fanfare, no big sign that says today is the first day of the rest of your life. Nothing but a slow and growing awareness.

It happened two and a half weeks ago when my computer was being particularly slow. It's a very slow thing to begin with. I have high speed internet, but no one told my computer - lol! I had to get out this rusty ol' computer last January when my laptop died. Computers aren't a luxury to me; they're a necessity because it is how I earn my living (freelance writing online). So whenever something goes wrong with my computer, I get very upset and worried.

Welllll, this ol' thing was taking its time. Now I'm not talking about taking a few seconds to load a page. Ah, now that would be a luxury! Nope, I'm talking about that it would literally take 15 minutes for a page to load. Yes, THAT long. NOT good! This happened for a good two days, no matter what I would do to try to speed it up.

I got frustrated. I got worried. I had to turn a job down. I cried...and cried and practically drowned in my self-pity.

Then there was the boy. He is a good lad, though I guess I can't call my baby a boy anymore. He's his own person and a man now. There he was...putting his hand on my shoulder as I stood hunched at my computer screen, trying not to show him I was crying. He quietly said it would be all right. He pointed out some passages he was just reading from an interview I had printed out (a 70+ page interview...rather long, eh?) I had read it a few months ago, but it's one thing to read something uplifting, and quite another to take it to heart.

The passages he pointed out to me were just what I needed. (Sorry, I'm not going to quote them or point them out, since I believe people's spirituality - as opposed to religion - are a very private matter). At any rate, something started to grow inside me. What had been laying dormant for many years finally started to grow...started to break out of that hard seed pod. Slowly but surely, gratitude started taking hold in my life. Just a small kernel, really, but then it grew to thousands of times its original size. It now permeates throughout my entire being.

I've had a day or two here and there where I woke up happy and went to bed happy, but those kinds of days didn't last long. I suppose that's because they were shallow. My attitude of gratitude was just surface deep, so obviously it would vaporize when met with a solid object - like the usual daily negativity we humans experience. Sure, it helped that I did my daily practice of thinking of five things to be grateful for everyday, but sometimes I just begrudgingly checked off the list; it didn't get to my heart.

Ever since that day of my son quietly pointing out some paragraphs, every day is a joy. Oh, I still have days where my computer acts up, but at least it doesn't take 15 minutes to load a page. Basically, nothing has changed in my life at all. Nada, zip, zilch. BUT I have changed. My heart has changed. I am grateful for everything now. Even when the toilet was getting all temperamental the other day...as I was plunging it, I was grateful for being able to have indoor plumbing all these years. Even when my favorite burner on my stove wasn't working yesterday when I really needed it, I was grateful for it having worked all these years. I was grateful that I have a stove indoors to cook on.

Some people can't understand how I can get through life without a washer and dryer. Yeah, it's a challenge, BUT I have running water indoors! Isn't that something wonderful to be grateful for! Who says we have to have a washer and dryer to be happy? Who says we have to have the latest and greatest to feel fulfilled? Whoever says that just doesn't get it. Their gratitude and contentment are just transitory.

When people talk of a loss of a loved one, why not rejoice for all the years they had with their loved one. I have never experienced a mother's or a father's love. For those who have, don't be sad that they're gone. Be happy that you had all those years together!

For two and a half weeks, I have felt contentment. There's a vast difference between happiness and contentment. To me, contentment is an inner peace - knowing that no matter what happens, it's okay, and it's going to be okay, and it will always be okay. Happiness is more of a surface thing to me...it's transitory and cannot last. Contentment sets up roots inside you and will last forever, because the spirit lasts forever.

Lessons have always been painful to me...always. Geez, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all - you know, that kind of thing. But during this time of metamorphosis for myself, I've learned two lessons that were delightful. One, winning those heart nesting bowls. I tend to be an impatient sort, and if I had held the contest, I would've had the "ya snooze, ya lose" attitude. If the person didn't check back on my giveaway to see if they had won within a certain amount of time, I would've drawn another name. Well, they were patient...they took the time to contact me.

Another lesson occurred last Friday. I went to my friends' house to water their plants while they're spending time in California. They let me use their washer and dryer while I'm there, so I've been doing a lot of rag quilting. Welllll...it's been terribly cold here. They wanted me to shut the door to the kitchen, where the washer and dryer are, to help save the costs of running their electric heater. It was 32 degrees in the kitchen (15 below zero outside). Something happened to the washer, and when I went to put things in the dryer, I discovered the whole kitchen floor was flooded! HELP! Luckily, they had about ten towels that I could sop up the water, wring out, and sop up some more. It was a long process cuz there was a LOT of water. I felt so terrible that this happened on my watch. I was also dreading how they would react. But they were kind to me. Their immediate thought was that they were sorry I didn't have access to a washer anymore. Wow! I could get used to learning lessons through kindness. Where do I sign up for such a school!?!

My life hasn't changed one bit, but I have. And that is the key to everything. How you view what happens to you determines if you'll be contented or not.

Service to others and an attitude of gratitude go hand in hand. They're now in my hands...holding each other warmly.

Happy Late Christmas - I Won a Giveaway

Wow, I have been so blessed lately! I won that beautiful floral arrangement from Sheila, and now I've won another beauty - Heart nesting bowls. Since the site of the giveaway isn't on the blogspot platform, I couldn't click that handy little link to follow it. Sooo, I thought I'd be all organized and copy and paste the url to their blog in an open notepad that I always have on my computer. Welllll....my computer sometimes freezes up, and if I haven't saved the info, I lose everything unsaved. Yep...that's what happened. I couldn't find the blog or the giveaway post. (They have an amazing blog, by the way).

Anyhoo, I had wondered about the giveaway and their great blog, but couldn't find the link. Didn't really think I'd win it, but I wanted to keep tabs of the blog because they post about such pretty and interesting things. Well, today I was surprised by an email saying I won the nesting heart bowls! That was so sweet of them to go to the trouble of contacting me, instead of choosing another winner within a couple days of my not contacting them. They had even lost my contact info and spent time trying to find it. Wow, that is really sweet!

Anyway, here's a photo they have on their blog about the giveaway. (JD Wolfe Pottery has some amazing items for sale, by the way. I'm drooling at all the pottery. I love pottery)!

RAKs and a Giveaway

I love the idea of RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness). I was wondering how I would go about doing RAKs on this great craft blogosphere, and the very next day I saw a post on Dixie Samplar Designs regarding her RAKs. So I thought I'd just do what she's doing. If you want a little gift box of a random act of kindness from me, just send your snail mail address to me (held in the strictest of confidences) at iluvffmn at yahoo dot com. I'll put your name in rotation. Make sure you put "RAKs" in the subject line. I get so much spam, and I'd hate to delete your email by accident. I'd like to be able to send out one goodie a month. I'm sure I can swing postage for that. My sweet son said he'd pay for the postage. The silly boy - he doesn't have a job, even though he's saved up some money. I told him no, he has to save up his money for other things.

Anyway, I'll be having a giveaway soon. I'll announce it after the first of the year. Not sure what I'll be giving away, but I do know I'll have it end on February 14th. It'll be in celebration of my son's and my birthdays since they're just a couple days apart and fall around the 14th. So stay tuned...!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Photos! I've Got Photos!

Thank goodness I posted the much prettier photo Shelia had on her giveaway post at Seasons of Thy Heart than my attempts at photography; otherwise, y'all wouldn't be able to appreciate how very beautiful it is. (Though no picture could do it justice). Anyway, here are a couple photos of some of the gorgeous goodies Sheila sent:




I think they're blurry because I had to hold my arms higher and my shoulder just hasn't been the same since my injury. I'm sure there must be something in the camera manual to help stabilize...just gotta find it.

Anyhoo, here are pictures of our snow. The first one is my chicken-less chicken coop. (Hopefully when the warm weather arrives again, I can get chickens). It's all recycled material. The bulk of the building is an old outhouse!


My back porch...what back porch...lol!



Note how I "primmed" up the side of the house with the chipping paint. Haha! Yeah, it's all on purpose - lol! Actually, we can get some major hail storms, so paint doesn't stay on the houses all that nicely. (You should see the sidewalks)!

My outhouse and an outbuilding. (Most of the houses here have a working outhouse in the backyard). I haven't used mine yet!



Another angle of my chicken-less chicken coop made out of an outhouse.



Here's one of my foot prints. I guess I should say leg print because the snow came up over my knee when walking around taking these pictures.


My dearest puppy Tessa, who is now sleeping on my lap. After all, posing for pictures and barking at mommy standing outside taking pictures makes a puppy very tired!



I guess technically she's not really a puppy anymore, since she's 13 months old. And here's our 12 year old "puppy" Sage. He was a rescue dog from the mean streets of Detroit. (We think he was used as a bait dog for the pitbull fighters). We've had him since 2001. He knows he's very loved, but sometimes he gets very skittish. I'm sure it's due to a lot of horrible things that happened to him before we got him.

Christmas Swap

Here are a couple pictures of the goodies I received from the Christmas Swap at Chickens in the Road.




There's a really cool painted fabric Santa, snowman, framed stitched Christmas tree, a notepad with a fabric holder and felted sheep, and a felted mitten ornie. All very cute!

I'll be posting more pictures soon.

A White Christmas

Whew, it's been awhile since I've written in here. Been busy sewing a couple rag quilts. Hopefully I can get some pics up soon. I don't know why, but I hate taking pictures. I guess I better get over that if I want to sell things on Etsy, huh?! I need to take time to read the manual that came with the camera, so I can take better pics and not have such an aversion to taking them.

Anyhoo, I've had an early Christmas with getting my lovely giveaway gift from Sheila at Seasons of Thy Heart. She was so sweet and put several other gifts in there and has really made a wonderful holiday for me. (We've shared several emails, and she's a wonderful person). As a single mom, I haven't had any gifts for awhile, and this year has made up for all those years. I even got a few wonderful gifts from an online Christmas swap over at Chickens in the Road. I'll take some pictures soon...I promise! Really, truly!

I was also eyeballs deep in a huge writing project that took all last week to complete. It was a client I hadn't written for in a couple months, so it was nice to get back to working for him. His work is sporadic, but when he needs some writing done, he usually sends large chunks my way. Also, the Aussie woman who owes me so much money paid another installment today, so she's slowly but surely getting current. At the rate she's going, though, it probably won't be until spring when she gets down to owing nothing - lol! But at least she's chipping away at it.

Yesterday we had about a foot of snow dumped on us. It snowed all day long. It was pretty, but it was kinda dicey walking in it. I went to the post office yesterday, and the wind was blowing that snow almost horizontal. At least it wasn't below zero...that happened later. Ah, winter in North Dakota. Definitely a sure bet on there being a white Christmas. We have a couple feet on the ground now and are due for another inch or two in the next couple days.

I Won!

Oh my gosh, I won a beautiful "grungy" floral arrangement from Seasons of Thy Heart! It's sooo beautiful! Take a look:



Wowzer, it's beautiful! I'm just so over the moon over this. Yay!

Busy, Busy - That's What I've Been

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I've written in here. I wanted to write more frequently, but sometimes time flies too quickly and before I know it, a week has gone by.

I finally finished up a denim rag quilt I was working on. Need to wash and dry it one more time, and then it should be nice and fluffy - at least I hope so! It's the first rag quilt I've ever made. I can't wait to see what the "finished" product will look like. Last week, I also made some yummy candy cane scented soap. It's not just your usual peppermint, but it smells of vanilla and butter. It's divine! I also made some chubby and grungy looking candles. The grungy part came quite by accident. I'll be posting some pictures of them soon. They smell wonderful as well. Soap making and candle making is a wonderful smelling hobby! Once I finish up the grubby candles, I'll be putting them up on my Etsy shop. Same with my quilt.

I've also been taking art lessons from Roses on My Table. I love the videos thus far. Zinnia is a very capable and engaging teacher and very easy to understand. I can't wait to start my mixed media crafts!

In the meantime, I'm waiting for some fabric from Joann's as they were having an impressive sale. When I got my initial order confirmation email over a week ago, they said it'd take 7 to 10 business days to receive my order. Eight days later, they notify me that they're finally shipping it. Um...that's kinda a long time to wait to ship out my order. No wonder stuff was no longer in stock. And then they charged me twice for the order and didn't credit me for the out of stock items. I'm none too pleased about that, as you can imagine. I emailed them earlier today but still haven't heard anything. Hopefully it'll get straightened out soon. Also purchased some various yarns and ribbons through a site that was having a 75% off sale. I'm going to have my son build me a loom, and I'll be doing some weaving, which I'm keenly interested in.

Hmmmm...quilting, candle making, soap making, weaving, mixed media, jewelry making...sounds like I have A.D.D. when it comes to crafts! At least I'm trying to discipline myself enough to finish up one project before I move on to another.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the second hand store and see what goodies I can find. I purchased some lovely sheer curtains last week and then this amazing, huge pottery plate. Oh my, it's beautiful! I had to send my son to pick that one up, as it would've been too large and heavy for me to carry with my bad back and shoulder. I'll be taking pix of my second hand store loot as well and sharing with y'all.

Tomorrow I'll be doing a whole bunch of writing, since I received a ton of writing projects over the weekend. Yay! Still haven't been paid in full by the woman from Australia, though she did send a meager amount last week towards the balance. At least it's something!