it's the little things

finding joy in the little things...like unexpected gifts from longtime bloggy friends. thank you so much! small acts of kindness, generosity and love like this are getting me through these mad political times. the kitties think those little fabric kitties and bunnies are for them! and now all of my pagemarkers will be kitties! 

* * *

it seems i'm not the only one with post-election stress disorder.

* * *

meanwhile, in an alternate universe:

the hillarybeattrump website

* * *

i do hope gates & buffet are right about a return to a fact-based reality.

* * *

best troll of the week:
the guys who handed out russian flags to the stupid crowd
listening to the cheeto's speech at the cpac meeting.

100 happy days :: day 67

a cute, clever and very unexpected postcard waiting in my mailbox. definitely happy.

perfect gifts

the best gifts are the surprises you don't know you're going to get. they're the ones that a friend sees and just says, "i know this is so julie, i have to send it to her." i'd rather have that kind of gift than a birthday present any day.

well, today was my day on that sort of gift - there were two surprise envelopes in the mailbox today. one covered in quite a lot of south african foliage stamps and the other with the royal mail.

one contained the elusive mermaid from series 9 of the lego minifigures. i had bought most of the ones available in town but she had proved too shy for me. but molly found her and sent her my way, as a little surprise.

funny how she had to take a trip to south africa and back to end up here with me, 20km from where she originated.

the second package contained bits and pieces of paper ephemera - stamps, small cards and two fabulous old postcards addressed to someone named sabine. perfect! there was a little stash of veronica's beautiful cards and a bookmark i put to immediate use.

but best of all were veronica's experiments in printing with some old 1950s linocut blocks. (read more about them here, where you can see she's moved on to making her own linocuts.) i jumped up and down, saying yes, please send one to me a few weeks ago on her blog. but i didn't expect to get 4 of them! each more charming than the other.

this one, printed on an old dictionary page is my hands-down favorite.

but i like this one too. there's something wonderful and about the brown ink. i just adore them!

and this little row of gnomes - they immediately found a place on the cupboard in the entryway, so everyone can see them when they come in.

here's the back of one of those postcards. sent to bob and sabine in 1978 from somewhere in france, i think. there is another one from california. both mention the weather, so i guess not much has changed.

it's wonderful how a little surprise in the mailbox from friends can totally make your day and probably even your week. and by you i mean me. thank you again, molly and veronica!

look at what's new from moo!

yesterday, in my email inbox, i got my moosletter and in it, i saw these innovative new business card holders and i thought, those are cool, i wonder if it's time for some business cards...  and then, when i got home, i found the most delightful surprise in my mailbox...you guessed it! one of moo's new business card holders - especially for me! i knew i loved moo.

happy monday!

a repairman just came to fix my washing machine. i've been without for nearly a week. i had a different repairman out last week and he said fixing it was beyond him (imagine that), so i had to wait for this guy from the manufacturer to show up. and show up he did--he was punctual and smelled strongly of fabric softener, which i suppose is comforting when one is fixing your washing machine. he was in and out in about 12 minutes and it's working perfectly now. i am amazed. but let me tell you, three people can create an awful lot of laundry in one week, so i'll be busy for the rest of the day and into tomorrow. (our washing machines here take a lot longer than north american ones--because they heat the water themselves, rather than taking hot water from the boiler.)

* * *

my list for this week looks like this:

1. photograph eyeball pillows (if sun ever shines).
2. make 3rd eyeball pillow.
3. list the damn pillows on etsy at last, girl.
4. teach self to crochet using youtube videos (already started this one and it looks promising--easier than knitting, far less retarded monkey stance).
5. locate and remove child's candy stash from her bedroom.
6. learn to use D300 in order to stop feeling unworthy of it.
7. laundry.
8. actually put away laundry rather than being tempted to just buy new laundry baskets.
   
9. go to swimming pool at least once.
10. finish sabin's fairy costume.
11. finish dress i started for sabin, but got stuck on some pleats around the neck and didn't finish.
12. pick up some of those great pressed firewood thingies to reduce risk of chopping off limbs in firewood splitting incident (husband is away this week, attending a course).
13. go for a photo walk every day (related to 6).
14. play with fabulous wide angle lens that came with D300.
15. locate and make sure work clothes are ready for official start next week.
16. finish started paintings.
17. finish mom's birthday present (and send).
18. make tote(s) for trips to the swimming pool.
19. eat vegetarian all week.
20. make a plan for what to create for the october artfreak show.

* * *

don't you just love the themes you can apply in gmail these days? they're what's made me think google is controlling the weather--because they show snow if it's snowing and sunshine when the sun is shining. right now, i'm using the "desk" theme. it has an ever-changing array of objects on the desk and i love what's there this morning:

so funny with an apple and a planet ticket. but it does worry me a little bit that google knows me a bit too well. tho' they should know that i'm rarely back as far as row 23 in the plane, they're spot on with the aisle seat. :-)

* * *

i'm so excited about the positive responses to The Julie Project. keep checking over there this week, as we'll be getting started on all of the fun things we've got planned! i find myself feeling just a tad impatient with the 9 hour time difference (tho' i think it went to 8 this weekend, as we haven't switched to daylight savings time yet). but that's mostly because it's all fresh and new and exciting, i hope i calm down about it a bit!

p.s. i must apologize for the mundaneness of this post. it's apparently mundane monday in my world.