After Christmas

I always feel a bit let down the day after Christmas. It seems that for over a month we build up the season, and everything about it, looking forward to one day. After that day is over, it's over. I think, in a way, everyone breathes a sign of relief when it's finally over. Then all we have to worry about is the credit card bill when it comes in January. Hopefully, we did not have too much on ours for Christmas. Because of building the sunroom this year, we tried to keep our Christmas costs down. I made alot of gifts this year, which everyone seemed to love. The pillowcases that I embroidered were a big hit, and so were the Fun Fur scarve, hat and gloves that I made for my 2 and 1/2 year old niece, and the handmade Christmas ornaments and knitted dishcloths.

Igot several fun gifts for Christmas. I got a really cute wooden thing with 3 cats in it which I'm looking forward to putting in my sunroom and a really cute resin type cat figurine that has a Santa hat on. I wish I could use it year round. I really appreciate all the gifts that I received, and I don't mean to be ungrateful, but for some of them I just thought, "What were they thinking?" Of course I'm polite enough to not ask them that question. I hate to be covetous, but there were several things that others got that I wish I had gotten. Well, there was really only one thing that my sister-in-law got that I wish I had gotten. Her daughter bought her some of those wonderful, fleece type Isotoner slippers. I have a pair of these from last year and they are so comfortable. I went out today to see if I could find some and they were all gone by the time I got there. I guess alot of other people like them too. I did find some after-Christmas bargains. I bought a neat pair of earrings that were 25% off. They are gold tone ear wires that dangle and they are the half moon and a star inside. Really pretty. Then I found 2 calendars and one engagement calendar book to use at work. It's called Cat Tales by Charles Wysocki. I debated on whether to buy cat themed calendars for work like I usually do, and opted instead to get two different wall calendars that are not cat related. One of them is Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting Calendar, and the other one is Kim Jacobs The Cobblestone Way. It has country type scenes of rooms, which I love. I will post some pictures later of the earrings and the other things I got.

I was thinking the other day about how sometimes we lose sight of Christmas when we get into the material aspect of it. We get caught up in the buying, and forget what Christmas if really all about. To me it's about the birth of Jesus, and showing His love to others by helping others and having good will toward our fellow man. In other words, help them whenever we can and treat everyone with respect, without reservation or judgment, and treat them the way we would want to be treated.

We haven't even unpacked everythng that we btrought from Eddie's sister's house. I think we were so tired when we got home on Christmas Eve, and then we had more visiting on Christmas day. We were pooped by the time we finally got home. Then we got a call from more family who were expecting us to come by their house. Eddie and I both thought, "Enough is enough." We could run ourselves to death and still not please everybody.

After I have rested, I will write more. Right now, I'm just kicking back and doing some knitting and recuperating.

Mandalas

One day last week I overheard my boss talking to someone else about a speaker who had been to their church. The speaker was talking about how we each have different artistic abilities that we use to express our creativity and spirituality, whether it be painting, drawing, knitting, crocheting, writing, etc. We express our spirituality and creativity every time we create something using our artistic abilities. The speaker also mentioned a book called Creating Mandalas by Susan F. Fincher. She also mentioned a book called The Artist's Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. There is a web site Creating Mandalas that tells a little about it.

I have never heard of mandalas before, but it is a way of creating a circle using colors, patterns, drawings, etc. to express our moods at different times. After the mandala is drawn, you learn how to interpret it. Your mandala is supposed to show you how you were feeling the day you drew it. It's all very mysterious and intriguing to me. Our library has ordered a copy of the book and we already had a copy of the The Artist's Way book. Might be something I could look at over the long Christmas vacation. Or I could just sleep. Maybe I'll do both, along with some knitting, reading ...

Tired

I really hate to complain, but this is my journal after all and I have to let it out somewhere. Today I'm really tired. We finally finished the sunroom window treatments and they are installed now. I'm not sure how well I like the shades, but maybe after we get the furniture in there it will look different. At any rate, we have to use them at least for awhile because we sure can't take them back to get our money back. The valances look pretty well. Eddie is sick with an upper respiratory something. He may be having a recurrence of asthma from childhood, and also because he smoked for so many years, he has some lung damage and has chronic bronchitis.

I was even more tired yesterday than I am today. If I had had a choice I would have gone straight home after work yesterday. But, knowing that I had to finish painting my cousin's dog, and that last night was the last class night of the semester, I went to class. When I got home I was exhausted to the point of just wanting to fall into bed without even taking my clothes off. I was sitting at the dining room table doing something and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Heckle, our cat, was acting strangely. We had put some plastic bags with Christmas gifts in them on the dining room floor to wait until we have time to wrap them. Heckle was on one of them and acting weird. The next thing I knew he was squatting like he was going to pee, and sure enough that's exactly what he was doing. I got him up before he did any damage to the Christmas gifts. When Eddie heard all the commotion, he mentioned that he had seen the wet spots and couldn't figure out where the water had come from. He thought the roof was leaking, and I thought that it better not be because it's a new roof. It turns out it was pee. So, I got all that cleaned up grumbling all the while because I was so tired and that I sure didn't need this. After I got all that cleaned up I noticed that Heckle had just thrown up on the kitchen floor. Then I had to clean that up. After getting Eddie a snack and some medicine, I washed my face, put on my nightgown and got ready for bed. After getting up twice to go the bathroom, I finally went to sleep and slept like a rock. When the alarm went off this morning, I thought, "Already? I just went to bed." To add insult to injury, this morning when I got ready to leave I couldn't find my car keys. What a bummer. Eddie gave me his key and I forgot to ask him if he found mine.

Sheesh! I'm so discombobulated that I can't keep up with anything. I guess everything has been in such disarray at our house for so long that it has just gotten away from me and I can't find anything. And I'm almost to the point of not caring whether I find it or not.

Sunroom Almost Finished

The paint is up on the sunroom walls and I love the way it looks. They have also done the trim around the windows and door and it looks so awesome! I'm very happy with the way it looks. They put the floor down yesterday. The room on the inside is pretty much finished, but they have to finish on the outside now, and the electricians have to come back and finish installing the electrical outlets and finish up in the rest of the house. We can't actually use the room until they do this. I even have two floral prints that I'm going to put in some frames and hang on the dining room end of the wall. That is really the only place I have to hang pictures, but that's fine with me. The prints are going to be really pretty there, I think. I'm going to try to find some antique looking frames that match the lamps that I bought. I'm going to wait until we get the furniture in the room and I have my special corner ready to take pictures and post them.

The only bad thing is that there is a thin layer of dust everywhere. On the floors, furniture and anything else that is lying around. It seems overwhelming, but I know we will get it cleaned up somehow. I just dread it, and I long for everything to be back in its place.

I'm anxious to start looking for fabric to make my valances. Maybe this weekend I can take my paint and wallpaper samples and see what I can find. I sure hope I can find something that matches and that we like.