The Weird and the Wacky

...is how my week has been so far. Wish I could add Wonderful to that alliteration, but so far that ain't happenin'. I still hold out hope, though, lol.

Our street's Christmas decorations were put up this past weekend by our usual tiny band of resident volunteers. The drive-thru winter wonderland is slowly taking shape. At least I hope it'll be another lit-up year. The neighbors seem to be a bit slow this year in preparations. Lord knows we've been there ourselves. LOL

The arches are really cool to drive under. Of course, not being able to leave your driveway for all the cars on the street almost every night after the 15th or so is not cool, but there's a price to pay for everything, I suppose. We are one of the top 5 spots in town for looking at lights.

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You know, I do want to make sure that I thank all of you who have continued to read and post a comment or two during my recuperation from my hand pain problem. I really appreciate all the thoughts and concern.

I know it's the time of the year to be thankful, but even if it wasn't I'd still feel the same way, LOL. I am working on leaving everyone comments on your blogs, although it may take a while longer until I am back to my old speed. (I'm embarrassed to say this one little post has taken the better part of 3 hours on and off. My fingers are really out of shape bigtime, LOL).

I won't stop plucking away at it, though, and I hope to be back the way I was before too long. Just know I do read! With a blog addiction like mine, ya have to. LOL Thank goodness my eyes are still working....

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Life around Casa Miguel is a bit frantic these days, as I'm sure it is at your house, too. Seems I've been doing nothing but ordering stuff online, creating gifts, sleeping, eating, and showering occasionally. Last Friday night I started feeling lousy and so I quickly beefed up my supplement and home remedy intake, as it felt like I was coming down with a cold or the flu. But by Sunday night, I realized that except for a stopped-up ear (that's still stopped up), I was feeling better.

The ear does not hurt at all, but it's pretty frustrating, especially when talking on the phone. I began using these drops I bought at CVS called Debrox a couple of days ago, and at times it almost clears up, but so far not totally at any time. It always goes back to being stopped up.

I guess I'm old-fashioned about this. Since there is no pain, I just don't believe I have an ear infection, but I know they are not always painful. Sigh. Looks like a trip to the doc may be in my near future, darn it. I'm tired of doctor visits. Stoopid ears!

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I haven't been doing much accounting lately, but I have been having to go to get some continuing professional education. I went to a course in Houston last week and right now I'm taking an online course. This one is not really accounting, but more marketing and customer relations. It's about internet businesses. I have homework, too! So, I was hoping to get your input on a what-if scenario I have to put together. Ya'll are internet customers, right? I'll post my hypothetical scenario in my next blog entry, once I finish thinking it up, LOL. It's about general business practices that foster loyal customers or create angry customers. You know you want to help me by putting in your two cents, right? I think all of us are experts on that subject and could write entire books about it, LOL. Anyway, look for that next time.

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How do you like my not-so-new Kandinsky framed prints? The Hubster and I finally got them hung last weekend. It only took about 3 years since I bought the prints and had them framed, LOL.

The first obstacle to my hanging them was the cathedral ceiling. It's way up there where I wanted to hang them and Hubs is too damn cheap to buy a ladder for that height (and I haven't been willing to start WWIII over it - and if it wasn't for telescopic handles on my dusters, there would be a huge dirty mess up there because I have no ladder that goes that high up). I usually get stuck doing these kinds of fix-it things on my stuff, so there I was with no solution. Time went on and I forgot the prints until recently when I was cleaning out a closet for Hubs to store some of his clothes and there they were. I then began bugging Hubs to get them hung.

So, he proceeds in his usual bull-in-china-shop fashion when he's irritated about having to do something he doesn't want to do. And, he broke the hanger on the back of the big print. Then he had to fix it. Then we ran out of picture wire. On and on.

Finally! He finally did it! You'd have run screaming if you had to endure being in the room when I was telling him where to hang them. Let's just say it was the Cuban Missile crisis redux. Almost WWIII, but not quite. This time though I was not backing down.

So now I finally have my prints of my favorite artist to admire. I just love them. When I was studying art years ago, I really connected with Kandinsky, for some reason, probably because he loaded his works with color. He's generally considered to be the first modern abstract painter. The big print in the center is the one he himself called his most intricate work, which is why I chose it. The other two I chose because they complimented the big one the best.

I have several of his prints, bought over the years when I could find them, but they are small, 5x7-inches, and since what I love about him best is his use of color, I wanted a big display of it, LOL. So, now that is finally taken care of. Amazing how a great piece of art can lift your spirits by just glancing at it as you walk by...

Oh, see the hanging beaded thing in the foreground of the photo? That's the ceiling fan pulls I beaded. Yup, no tiny little wimpy fan pulls for us. These are so big you actually pay attention to avoid crashing into them because they can bruise a forehead, LOL.

I have an ongoing feud with the Hubs about height-related things, since I'm barely 5'5"" and he's 6'1", and he of course thinks that everything needs to be at his height. Car seats, lights, fan pulls, ladders (argh). The frustrating and unfair thing is that he can always bend down -- hello! -- but I can only stretch up so far. Ya KNOW????? Ugh, men!

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Lately, I've been inspired by:
Tim Holtz - awesome 12 days of tag creating with his products; if you like his stuff, this series is a keeper, bookmark it!
Nichole Heady - co-owner of Papertrey Ink and also the McGuyver of paper crafting! This woman can do anything with paper, seriously...
Ellen Hutson - if there's a machine or gadget that scrappers oughta have, Ellen's on the case scoping it out. I have learned so much from her about diecut machines and dies, not to mention about stamping and card-making.
Melissa Phillips - omgosh. just. Heaven. {long sigh}

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Okay, enough. Off to create! Have a great week, I'll probably be back with a post on Friday....