RISE AND SHINE, PEOPLE!

God Save the Queen, I have SO FREAKING MUCH to do this week, and it's going to be AWESOME!  More details after this little gem...

... I think that about the birds outside, too!!!

So, CGtY is officially 5, which means she's promoted herself in her make believe play to CEO and Supreme Ruler of DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand.  She's a gracious monarch, though.  She lets me be  in charge of the Mermaids, and CGtE is now the Head of the Department of Entertainment (a promotion from last year's Lead Servant and Scapegoat).  He and I can't help but agree that the pay is lousy (we are rewarded for our loyalty with more and bigger messes to clean up), but the creative license perks are pretty sweet (I can make the Mermaids stage a rebellion and flood DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand unless Her Majesty meets their demands.  Like, eating all of her dinner or getting her pajamas on, say.)  Her subjects (who, among the masses, include Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, 5 of those Ty animals with the freakishly big eyes, and about a dozen Littlest Pet Shop critters that hurt worse than Legos when I step on them in the dark) adore her and have good cause to place their (inanimate) faith in her ability to rule; there hasn't been a flood yet.  Unless you count the bathtub, which we don't- that's Her Majesty treating them all to a vacation at the beach.

Anyway, yeah, back to my metric ton of stuff to do this week:

Tomorrow is a full day of finishing the Spring Cleaning.  Every blessed thing in the house has been disturbed, dusted, wiped down, disinfected and rearranged.  I wish I had taken a photo of the area under the stairs before I redid it, to show the difference.  It looks amazing now!  I still have the dining room and downstairs bathroom to complete, as well as detail mopping the kitchen.  (Detail mopping- on my knees with a cloth and bucket, a la Cinderella.  Good time for prayer and worship, that!)
Aside from those couple of things, most of the stuff was done last week and just needs "touchups".  Well, except for my room, which always needs to be done- but no one is going to see it, as it's in a permanent state of reinvention so it doesn't really figure in.  And I'll have to repeatedly pick up the trail of toys that the CGs strew behind them as they go.  Cleaning a house with young kids in it is like trying to file and organize papers on a desk while a fan blows on them.  Or brushing your teeth while you are eating Oreos. Ok, no, ew.  The first thing.  The second one may be an effective analogy, but it's still a really gross mental image!

Tuesday evening, some friends of ours will be visiting from Leeds, UK.  I can't wait to see them!  It's going to be fantastic!  Later in the week I'm going to be meeting another friend I haven't seen in a long while for a late dinner, so I'm looking forward to that as well.  Nothing is better than good food and good friends gathering to visit! :)

Also this week, I've got to solidify my posts for the Annual A-Z!  I'm doing a "Snail Mail" theme (well, of course I am!  What else would it have been!) and I still have to come up with a few of the trickier ones.  You know.  Q, V, X, Y.  Surprisingly, U, W and Z were all easy ones.

Lucy Jane has been hibernating for too long and has to get busy on some stock pieces for the upcoming Hydrangea Fest!  Only 8 ish weeks to go!  Yikes!  More giraffes and hippos and sea turtles and stuff to make.  The CGs think it's done by magic.  Oh, they've seen the machine going, and they have seen the process from start to finish.  But usually the main work is done while they are at school or asleep, so one minute it's a pile of fabric and then >POOF!< there is a shelf full of cuddly plush animals (that, ironically and maddeningly, they are not allowed to touch and/or play with! LOL!)  I'm making them some of their own.  CGtE hasn't decided what he wants yet, but CGtY is painstakingly choosing the fabric for her custom unicorn.  Someone made a comment somewhere- the cobbler's children being barefoot... or something along those lines. Well, fine.  Now my CGs will own Lucy Jane made Funky Friends.  I can't wait to show Pauline (the pattern maker) when I get them done. :)
(Just so we are clear, it's not as if the CGs don't have a bunch of loved plushies already.  They do.  But somehow my love of sewing Funky Friends and my compulsory need to be a sometimes indulgent parent seem to have collided.)

And I'm working on my backlog of letters to answer.  I have it down to around 30 now.  This past week was awesome and brought letters in from as far away as Hungary, plus a stack from all around the US.  I am loving the new friendships I have made through LetterMo, and the continued correspondence from long-established pen friends.  It's a wonderful and important part of my daily life to send and receive letters!

Then Friday I'm hosting a 31 Gifts party!  I LOVE 31 stuff.  I have a demi purse in "peacock paisley" (now retired, sadly) that I use ALL the time, but I have my eye on that Cindy design, and that drool-inducing Organista bag... !

Ok... I've rambled on long enough!  Time to crash in the bed and tackle that list of awesomeness in the morning at 6 a.m.!  Goodnight, my dears!

After

After a sleepless night (general insomnia), I heard the children wake up for Christmas morning.
After they had come downstairs and gasped with delight over their presents, there was paper everywhere and smiles and laughter and it was wonderful.
After the presents were all open, there was a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.  Simple, but so good.
After spending time playing games and setting up toys, it was time for them to go to their dad's for his visitation time.  They will be back on Jan. 1st.
After they were gone, the house was too quiet.
After I had lunch and cleaned up the downstairs, I decided to go see Les Miserables.
After I sat down in the theater, someone I hadn't seen in a long time found me and invited me to sit with them.
After the opening overture, I didn't stop crying until the credits rolled.
After the movie, we went to get a bite to eat and catch up on each other's lives for a couple of hours.
After I got home the weather turned downright nasty.  Glad to be snug and safe.
After a good night's sleep, I spent the majority of today job searching and submitting online applications.
After some general blogging, I discovered that my ex married his mistress yesterday.  I thought I would feel something one way or another, or have some sort of response since our divorce was only final Nov 28th, but I didn't.  I don't really care.  Huh.
After I helped my Gran with some stuff she needed, I went back to my job search and was interrupted by 3 different instant messages from good friends wanting to chat.  Gal pal Nikki lives in Savannah and is always ready to tell me how the city looks and what's happening there. I felt loved and cared about. :)
After writing this, I'm ready to go to bed and have a busy, productive, and happy day tomorrow, spending time in prayer, getting caught up on housework, sewing work, more job searching, and writing some long overdue letters.

I'm going to leave you with a great song lyric about "after".  It's by Mumford and Sons.  (Here's the full song if you want to hear it.  I'll likely feature it on a MM sometime later.)

And after the storm
I run and run as the rains come
and I look up, I look up
On my knees and out of luck
I look up...

There will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears
when love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see what you find there
with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

Christmas Eve Blessings

It's been a lovely Christmas Eve!  I spent the morning making a special breakfast for the Cute Gremlins.  We'd found this marvelous book at the library:

which, at the end of the story, gives the recipe for the traditional British meal of Toad-In-A-Hole (which I first ever heard of in the movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" when I was a little girl, but had never actually tried.)  So we gave it a go and it was quite tasty!

Then we played board games and did some laundry/general hanging around the house stuff.  Friend Christina came by for a few minutes and dropped off some presents around the tree.  (She will come back over tomorrow before the CGs leave for their week at their dad's.)  She's only home 40 more days before a return deployment to Afghanistan.  Please, pleasepleaseplease keep her in your prayers!  She left to run errands before church, and we went into town and grabbed a bite of lunch, CG the Elder got a haircut, and we returned home to play more games and watch Christmas movies.  At 5:30 was the candlelight service at church, which was just lovely and filled my heart with such peace.  I do love my church family so much!  Home once again, we helped Gran fix a nice dinner and just enjoy the evening.

The CGs went to bed, "Santa" finished up by bringing the rest of the presents out of hiding and filling the stockings, and now I'm blogging to you, my wonderful friends- wishing you every wonderful Christmas happiness as I head off to bed.  (But not before, in my notoriously creative and last minute flash of artist personality, I finish making a few gifts for friends!!!)

Happy Christmas to you all!!!

Breaking the Silence

Hello, my loves.

Many of my regular readers have noticed that I have been "quiet" in the last 6 months, not posting much of anything personal, and mainly only loosely sticking to my blogging schedule by providing stuff I find on the interwebs that I know you'll love.  I stopped doing a daily "Attitude of Gratitude" list back in July, NOT because I wasn't counting my blessings, but because if I posted even a tiny percentage of what I was thankful for each day, in the face of all that's happened here recently, I'd have been a continual, blubbering, emotional wreck.  (That sentence seems to have entirely more commas than it ought, but I can't articulate it any better at the moment.  Bear with me.)

My blog is not a rant.  It is not a public journal where I vent whatever emotion is running high at the moment and then wait til later to think about how it came across.  I have striven to keep it a cheerful, beautiful place where there is always something to make my readers smile.  Some of my posts from last year are of a more serious and personal nature, but the majority since have been reigned in to be of a positive and happy persuasion.  I want to thank you all for the continued love you have shown.  My followers count is growing, which is thrilling!  I will be joining in with a "Grow Your Blog" fest in January (separate post about that, with all kind of links, to follow shortly).  I am humbled to have had nearly 70,000 pageviews on my sidebar counter.  Wow!  Your comments and letters (though I am WAY behind in replies again!) and virtual hugs have encouraged me and kept me pushing through the tough times- and there have been many tough times of late, to be sure.

So by now you are wondering what has kept me so distant.  Well, the biggest thing is that my divorce is now finally final.  He left us ("officially") this summer.  I fought so hard to save the marriage, spending more time than I can even recall literally on my face at the Lord's feet, begging for a miracle.  But both people have to want it, and according to him the entire marriage was a lie on his side.  Yes, there are sordid details.  Yes, he cheated.  There were lies on top of lies, on top of more lies, until things finally caught up with him.  But that's all I'm going to tell you about it.  The details are really no one else's business, and I'd just as soon bury the past as much as I can, as quickly as I can.  The end result and bottom line is that I am now a single mom of 2, starting my life completely over.

Where I had been raising his two children from his first marriage, as well as our two, and had referred to them all in my posts as "Cute Gremlins 1-4", with 1 being the oldest, etc., now he has taken 1 and 2 to Alabama with him (I never had ANY legal rights to them whatsoever.  Motherhood is, in itself, a thankless job.  This has turned out even more so.) and I am the primary physical custodial parent of our two.  Therefore, from here on out, anything related to the children is simply "Cute Gremlin the Elder" and "Cute Gremlin the Younger".  As above, that's the only explanation and insight you're going to get.

I will say this for the Year of Infomercials From Hell that 2012 has been: when stuff like this happens, you find out who your friends are.  And aren't.  When things are stripped down to the bone, you see who is true blue and who only pretended to give a crap about you.  You discover just how fragile and precious every moment of happiness, security (though admittedly, mine was a false sense of), and normality really is.  You either run to God, or from Him.  I am utterly dependent on Him, and though my faith was tested with the hottest fire I have yet encountered in this life, it held and I seek His face moment by moment.
How great is my comfort, to be hidden in the shadow of His wings! (Ps. 17:8 and 57:1)

I have many major choices ahead of me, including finishing school (Where?  What degree major? How to pay for it?  I don't fancy getting into massive debt...), getting a job (have been trying for 8 months- nothing yet.  Having been a SAHM for 8 years, and no degree, I have no marketable skills that will translate to a full time job that will support myself and 2 children.  But I'm trying.), what to do with Lucy Jane... the Etsy shop is growing, and I'm grateful for that.  But how to take it to the next level (so it becomes a viable source of income) and be worth the time investment? A lot of questions.  Some of them that raise more questions instead of answers.  However.  I know Who has ALL the answers, even when I feel like I can't even breathe.

So that's it.  That's the long and the short.  It hasn't been 100% heartache- there are several things that I have found happiness and worth in that I can't wait to share with you!  The personal growth has been a painful process, but it has happened, and continues to happen, and I have discovered more about my identity as a human being in the past 3 years than perhaps in the whole of my life prior to that!  I will share those joyful things with you, very soon!  But for right now, I feel like this post is long enough and complete in itself.

I'm back from hovering on the "edges".  This is my blog, my personal space, and I am ready to live in it fully again.  I will be posting personal triumphs and trials in the future, inviting you to come along for the journey.  I will keep this blog a beautiful and cheerful place and I hope anything it contains blesses someone's heart.  So many of you fellow bloggers have blessed mine.  Thank you so much for that.
Until later, my dears.  Thank you again for sticking with me.  It promises to be an amazing life from this point forward! :)

Love,
Jenny

PS- I will be starting the Gratitudes list on the sidebar again in the New Year!! :)

The GA Aquarium, Or, My State Is Cooler Than Yours Because: This!

An extraordinary friend recently treated myself and the Cute Gremlins to the GA Aquarium.  Have I mentioned my love for all things Oceanic?  Once or a thousand times?  I thought I might have.  

Anyway, I haven't done any major photography in a while and capturing many hued, million-scaled sea dwelling critters looked like fun.  It was more challenging than I imagined, what with the many layers involved.  The light from above (regular room lighting) combined with the light within the tanks reflected off of the glass, the water, the rocks, the plant surfaces and the animals themselves.  Heck, even some of the actual fish gave off their own light (the neon tetras, etc.)!!

But even if the photos aren't "show worthy", I am still happy with the way a lot of them came out.  Here are 5 of my favorites.  If you'd like to see more, you can see the entire set on my Flikr album.

If you have not been to the GA Aquarium, PLEASE get there as soon as you can!  It is amazing! 

Photo (and facts below) from the GA Aquarium Wikipedia page

They have sea otters, river otters, whale sharks (the ONLY place in the USA that has them!), a Pacific giant octopus, leafy sea dragons, African penguins (photo above), manta rays, reef sharks, beluga whales, dolphins (who perform in a beautiful show, "Dolphin Tales", several times daily), a loggerhead sea turtle (photo above), butterfly fish, clown fish (Nemo!), big fish, little fish, red fish, blue fish... wait.  That last bit is a Dr. Suess book.  But there really are literally more than 120,000 of the critters spanning 500 different species, in EVERY color of the color-wheel, swimming/floating/splashing in over 8.5 million gallons of water!  **flailing Muppet arms**  It's wonderful!!!! :)

What's your favorite "Aquarium" type of animal??

Wood, Don: King Bidgood's In The Bathtub and Heckedy Peg

The illustration style of these two books draws me back to them again and again.

We LOVE "King Bidgood's In The Bathtub"!  The Cute Gremlins think it is hilarious!  The King is having fun in his giant, bubbly, massive bathtub and refuses to get out.  So all the court has to move whatever plans they had going that day- yep!  Into the tub!  I immediately thought of Lauren at American Duchess when I saw the fashions of the court as they waited in the hallway, trying to coax King Bidgood away from his bubble-bathy buffoonery.

I wonder what Lauren thought when she saw what the water had done to the Queen's gown after having lunch in the tub?

[Edit/Update: I tagged Lauren on Facebook that I'd written this post and posed a question.  This is her reply: "lol! Well I think the illustrator knew/knows fashion history! Very impressive, that's not so far off what Elizabethan women were wearing under their skirts :-D"]

********

Heckedy Peg is equally as charming with the illustrations, but a more serious tale:
A poor widow with seven children must go to the market and leave the children alone at home (think Europe mid 18th or 19th century/Grimms tales kind of setting).  While she is gone, the witch Heckedy Peg comes and tricks them, and they are transformed into food.  By remembering what her children had asked for from the market, the mother was able to correctly guess which child had been turned into what food and save them from the witch.

This is my favorite image from Heckedy Peg, because I've known the love and strong maternal instincts that turn the poor widow into a fearsome and formidable force to be reckoned with when she is protecting her children.

That stance and body language?  Just about every mom in the world, including me, has been there and done that and will on keep doing it, whenever and if ever the need arises.  But the illustration of her doing it gives me added courage.  This is a scary world to raise babies in, even without hungry witches named Heckedy Peg.

I'd like to find more books at the library that are illustrated by Don Wood.  If I happen upon any soon, I'll be sure to post an edit!

Cannon, Janell: Verdi, Stellaluna and Others

Today I'm going to share a few book covers with you.  They are all by wonderful author/illustrator Janell Cannon.

Verdi is our current favorite.  

I'm not going to ruin it for you, but if you want to know, my favorite images are color illustrations #6 and #14 (the book doesn't have page numbers, so you have to count the full color images).

Stellaluna

Little Yao

Crickwing

Pinduli

Head on over to your local bookstore or library and take a look!  I think this week we will trade in Verdi for Little Yau. :)

Southern Summer Showers

Here lately, we've been visiting the new Dog River Public Library several times a week.

The Cute Gremlins and I are voracious readers and, as you've seen from the last few weeks, huge aficionados of children's book illustrations.  The check out limit is 50 items.  We nearly always go home with about 10-15 in each of our library bags, (I'll be showing you how to make your own library bag in a future post! Stay tuned!) and we return 3-4 days later to swap them out for new titles.

Well, it's the season of pop-up summer thunderstorms here in the hot and humid South.  We had been inside the library for about 15 minutes when the bottom fell out of the sky and there was a deluge that lasted the better part of 40 minutes!  We read and read and read, and browsed the movie titles, and played with the stuffed animals/hand puppets in the story time area, and read some more.  Finally, it quit raining and the sun came out full strength.  As we walked to the car (feeling as though we should grow gills in order to breathe in the 200% humidity!), I captured this video of the drain spouts in front of the building.  The gutter system was designed to be pretty as well as functional, and after a monsoon like that, these "fountains" were so nice to look at and hear!  Enjoy!

Goliath: A Giant Coaster!

What we're doing all day today:

Well, not JUST the coasters, but Six Flags does boast this one called GOLIATH!  Here's a video of what it's like to ride in the front row!  Enjoy!

4/9/12 Edit:

People have been asking since I can't ride Goliath, what my favorite roller coaster at Six Flags is.  It's the Batman.  Here's a view from the front row by the same people who filmed Goliath (above).  Enjoy!

Exhausted

I spent all day with Cute Gremlins #1 & #2 at Six Flags Over Georgia.  We rode rides.  We watched shows.  We ate BBQ and curly fries and cotton candy.

AND TOMORROW WE GET TO DO IT ALL AGAIN, PLUS A CONCERT THERE!!!


(I'll take photos and post them in an edit.  Never fear.)

Then we came home and watched the third Harry Potter together.
I know I'm totally phoning it in for this one.  It's Spring Break week, Easter weekend, and time with my CGs.  Gimme a break.  I have some doozie posts planned for next week, so please don't run away just yet.  Come back and visit or browse the archives and I promise there is bound to be something to make you laugh hard enough to make whatever beverage you're drinking execute an unplanned detour through your nose.  (PSA:  Milk is moderately painful, but carbonated sodas burn!)

Thanks for reading my insomniatic babble.  I'm crashing under a micro fleece quilted bedcover.  Mmmm, cozy.  Happy A-Z ing! :)

Attitude of Gratitude

Welcome to the first day of the A-Z Challenge!!!  It's going to be a great month, full of fun posts!
As it's also the 1st of the month, my A entry is all about attitude today- An Attitude of Gratitude!  Here is my list of things I was grateful for in March:

• 3.31- A few hours with husband home. And that he has a job. Even though I really hate it right now. I'm grateful that he has one.
• 3.30- Making a phone call that ultimately saved us a lot of time, hassle and gas money
• 3.29- Tea at the Vineyard Cafe in Marietta Square
• 3.28- Good friends bringing their kids for a play date
• 3.27- Novacaine
• 3.26- Fun shopping by myself and getting supplies for Lucy Jane
• 3.25- Getting to snuggle with husband before he had to leave for another week away. I sleep so much better when all of my family is at home together.
• 3.24- Spending all day at the zoo with my family
• 3.23- My Grandmother, who has a birthday today
• 3.22- Clean jeans
• 3.21- Cute Gremlin #4 is 4 years old today!
• 3.20- Sewing time and Things Accomplished
• 3.19- Good things showed up in the mail. :)
• 3.18- Church with my whole family. Also thankful for prayer warriors
• 3.17- HUSBAND IS HOME!!!
• 3.16- Parcels from England that contain bath salts, which made everything else smell heavenly! (including the mailbox!)
• 3.15- Today I'm thankful that I'm not Julius Caesar. He had it pretty rough.
• 3.14- PI DAY!!! :)
• 3.13- Really, really, really awesome dental hygienists. And pain killers for the migraine I sported later in the day
• 3.12- Nimble fingers
• 3.11- Getting to spend time playing Nancy Drew games with my kids
• 3.10- Getting my Nikon out again after a 3 month hiatus and photographing the evidence of Spring all around me.
• 3.9- Nice receptionists who treat me with respect and courtesy when I decide to act like an adult and make a dental appointment.
• 3.8- Being given the chance to enter a giveaway to WIN new patterns on the internets!!! :D
• 3.7- The magic of ordering new patterns on the internets!!! ;)
• 3.6- An amazing day out at Marietta Square!
• 3.5- The gentle whirring sound of my sewing machine
• 3.4- 50% off coupons
• 3.3- Spending time with friends all day long
• 3.2- Straight pins
• 3.1- Getting some much needed sleep

What Up, Moon-pie!

I'm still here!  I'm just REALLY busy with a lot of good things!!!  Such as:

• Lucy Jane orders are pouring in which is AWESOME, so if anyone seriously needs me, I can usually be found at the sewing machine with both it and my iPod blazing full speed ahead!  Some new things just done will be posted on the Lucy Jane blog very soon.  Hopefully by tomorrow.

• Also Lucy Jane related, she's been booked for a hurrah-and-to-do Art thing in Marietta in August, so we have that to prepare for! :)

• Cute Gremlin #4 turned 4 years old yesterday!  (Picking myself up off the floor from the reality kick of that one.) We're having her party on Saturday so that Husband can be here from working out of town. (Still. More. Again.  This majorly sucks.  Lots.  SO grateful he's back for the weekend at least.)

• Cute Gremlin #2 is being inducted into Beta Club tomorrow afternoon! :D  For her big project this year she's getting me to teach her how to sew a basic skirt.  Cause she's awesome!

While I do all of this, I manage to do regular life on some level.  Groceries.  Laundry.  More fun things (than groceries and laundry), like letter writing and taking the Cute Gremlins to the Zoo.  

I'm trying to keep caught up here too, and I discovered this week that The Modest Peacock just hit 40,000 pageviews!!!!!!  WOW!  Y'all keep me amazed!  I'm humbled and grateful, especially since I have been neglecting a regular blogging schedule.  I promise to work on that, particularly with the A-Z Challenge and my 4th blogaversary coming up in April!

I have still been frequenting the library and reading amazing books, some of which have prompted a new scheduled feature here very soon (when I get the Lucy Jane stuff down to a dull roar and figure out the time tables.  It's all a delicate balancing act...).  Also while at the library, I've been borrowing the completed seasons of the TV show "The Big Bang Theory".  If you've never seen it, please do!  It's hysterical!  I identify with the Penny character on a lot of levels (I even just figured out how to do one of her super cute hair styles!), but there is a huge part of me that is a closet nerd too, so it's a great way to de-stress.  I especially love this clip*, which is what I'm going to leave you with as I fall in the bed and get back to my sewing in the morning.  I still have to clean up my messiness of scraps and thread and pattern pieces and whatnot before Husband gets in at lunchtime! 

*YouTube has disabled embedding, so you can watch it by following this link. Enjoy the clip!

The Random Stuff That Happens on a Saturday...

I took Cute Gremlins #2 and #4 to Marietta Square to attend a friend's baby shower.  After we had said our goodbyes and were leaving, we walked out to find this happening in the square!  Very cool. :)

February Gratitudes

February has come and gone!  It was a busy month, filled with good friends, letters in the mailbox, and so many blessings to be thankful for!!

• 2.29- Cutie Pie Emily making me smile every 5 minutes!
• 2.28- Dayquil
• 2.27- Voting
• 2.26- All the bills paid up
• 2.25- Inspiration for new projects and creative goodness!
• 2.24- Fish legs is tasty noms! :)
• 2.23- a whole day to myself to move furniture around, get organized and clean things up
• 2.22- Taking Gran out shopping
• 2.21- Fun time with kids, making green slime :)
• 2.20- Friend's surgery went well
• 2.19- Getting GRACED by 2 wonderful friends. You two are such blessings!!!
• 2.18- Good doctors for my Grandmama
• 2.17- Musical Numbers
• 2.16- Fantastic Bible Study time!
• 2.15- Half price chocolates/Valentine's candy
• 2.14- Friend who sent me Mr. Darcy in the mailbox and made my Valentine's Day not so horrible
• 2.13- More letters in my mailbox
• 2.12- Email about things relating to The Other Me that made my entire year!
• 2.11- Heat and warm blankets as the temps drop super fast outside.
• 2.10- Two people I love have a Birthday today!
• 2.9- A few questions answered
• 2.8- I found a few awesome treasures at the thrift store!
• 2.7- Letters in my mailbox
• 2.6- My brother-in-law, who has a birthday today
• 2.5- Someone who came to church
• 2.4- Strong headache medicine
• 2.3- The freedom to make a few long term plans
• 2.2- Pretty paper to write letters on
• 2.1- Meeting new friends through the Lettermo challenge

December Gratitudes

Or: "Bye, 2011.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out..." :)

I don't think it's fair to try to weigh out all of the things that happened in a year and then stamp it as either  a "good" or "bad" year.  The last month of 2011 saw me crying both tears of pain and tears of joy.  I had some truly wonderful days, and some days that I wish were only a nightmare that I could wake up from and forget.  I think, finally, that I'm learning to live One. Day. At. A. Time.  This is not to say I don't set goals or make plans for the future.  Of course I do.  But isn't life less about trying to forget a "bad year" and remembering all of the "good times" no matter what year they happened in?  And creating more good times to look back on?  I had so much to be thankful for this last month of 2011.  I'm looking forward to my blessings in 2012 as they unfold.  God bless us.  Every one.  :)

• 12.31- Goodbye, 2011. I learned a lot and I'm ready for a fresh new start!!!
• 12.30- Day off from work=more productive clearing out at home! Also, Friend Christina takes me to the gym and I discover that I really like it
• 12.29- The truth has set me free. Grateful for family who love and support me. Lord God, hold me together and bring beauty from the ashes
• 12.28- Friend Christina helps me get some things sorted and cleaned out. Both of us make like Allie Brosh and CLEAN ALL THE THINGS
• 12.27- Sweet friends and customers made work today really nice
• 12.26- A morning shift at work so that I can spend time with the kids and their new toys. :)
• 12.25- CHRISTMAS! My Jesus was born to set me free!!!
• 12.24- Grateful for my family. Seeing the kids after family kept them all week while I worked and spending time with my Dad's side for Christmas
• 12.23- While Christmas shopping, found Cute Gremlin #4's birthday gift on sale. Felt good to be shopping savvy. :)
• 12.22- Bestie sent me goodies from River Street Sweets in Savannah!!!!!
• 12.21- Christmas shopping :)
• 12.20- Spring stuff has arrived at work! I got to display lovely garden accents and it brightened my day
• 12.19- God's grace to stay cheerful at work after hard weekend
• 12.18- Spending time after church eating pancakes and reading a wonderful letter from England
• 12.17- The prayers of friends and family as my world began to crash
• 12.16- Talented friends
• 12.15- discovering a link to a blog that compares the SEC teams to Muppets
• 12.14- another full day at work
• 12.13- Completely and utterly Graced by our church family
• 12.12- Tree is finally decorated
• 12.11- giant pot of clam chowder
• 12.10- same as yesterday
• 12.9- Full and busy day at work
• 12.8- Lovable, loud, ginger friend has a birthday today
• 12.7- Eldest Cute Gremlin is officially a teenager
• 12.6- The Christmas tree is up!
• 12.5- The fun involved in trying to outdo a friend with funny Star Wars youTube vids via Facebook
• 12.4- Seeing friends at a wedding gig
• 12.3- An old and dear friend called me on his birthday to catch up :)
• 12.2- My warm coat
• 12.1- Great day at work

2011- In Review

In retrospect, I suppose 2011 has been better than 2010.  In some ways, much better.  In other ways, not much at all...  Here are some major points that happened:

January- March:

• My professional camera went missing and then was found.
• My blog hit 1,000 page views! :)
• Cute Gremlin #4 turned 3
• We got snowed/iced in at the house for 4 days and everything got organized and sorted! (For a little while, anyway.)  Plans for redecorating/renovating my room were begun.

April- June:

• I participated in the A-Z Blog challenge,  nearly tripling my followers list! :D
• I spent time at the beach and with good friends
• Cute Gremlin #3 turned 6
• I turned 30

July-September:

• I got to return to the beach :)
• I made many more blog friends, and my page views topped 10,000! WOW!
• I got to see "Wicked" at the Fox Theatre!
• Cute Gremlin #2 turned 11
• I began to set some strong goals and plans for my future, even in the midst of much uncertainty.

October- December:

• My blog page views have now surpassed 25,000!!! Amazing!
• I participated in NaBloWriMo
• I began the 52 weeks of mail project, and pen pal-ing.
• I got a job at Hobby Lobby- a direct answer to prayer!
• Cute Gremlin #1 turned 13
• The Cute Gremlins had a wonderful Christmas
• [Update: what I originally wrote here has been removed for revision/prayer/privacy/etc] The Lord is my Rock and my Refuge.  I am clinging to Him and He will never fail me.

As my current Facebook status reads:

Dear 2011,

It wasn't your fault.  You tried to be a good year and gave me all your 365 days to live in.  So, thanks.

Dear 2012,

BRING IT ON.  I'm ready for you.

Love,

Jenny

I'm still writing letters and trying to get caught up on blogging.  I'm sticking to plans that I've made:

• Growing my income with Lucy Jane and Avon, etc.
• the 2012 A-Z Blogging Challenge in April
• saving up for my England trip in June of 2013 (more about that in another post soon!)
• Spending time with my kids and creating a happy and healthy life for them.  Plans for trips to the park and local attractions and events, church events and other fun things.  We're going to be fine.
• Most Importantly: reading my Bible every day and following the Lord wherever He leads me.

Happy, happy New Year, everyone!  2012 is going to be wonderful!

Love to you all,

Jenny

November Gratitudes

While the first thing that tends to jump to people's minds at the word 'November' is likely Thanksgiving Day, I did my very best to not lose sight of my blessings from the first day of the month to the last.  I am blessed beyond measure.

• 11.30- Leftover 'Fish Legs' from our date at Joe's Crab Shack
• 11.29- Jake's home improvement accident involving a work knife and his arm could have been so serious. I'm thankful he didn't die. No, really. It could have gone that way and God kept it from being so.
• 11.28- Tallied up the hours scheduled for this week and it merits a low, "how awesome is this!" whistle
• 11.27- Excellent message at church from Pastor Godwin
• 11.26- Same as yesterday
• 11.25- No fights breaking out in our store
• 11.24- Happy Eat-Yourself-Into-A-Stupor Day! :)
• 11.23- Quick closing at work so that we could come home and get ready for Thanksgiving.
• 11.22- Grocery shopping by myself for some quiet down time
• 11.21- Several friends are expecting! I love new babies!
• 11.20- Choir practice and cute pass-along clothes from friends
• 11.19- A soft bed to sleep in
• 11.18- Sturdy shoes
• 11.17- Great day at work, wonderful last Bible study class, a good car to run all over town doing errands in, and books waiting for me at the library. :)
• 11.16- I GOT THE JOB!!! :D
• 11.15- A good rainy, snuggly kind of day to get my room cleaned up and then write letters and catch up on other work
• 11.14- Quiet time writing letters at the new library
• 11.13- Church and bringing Christina with me! :)
• 11.12- All day of a gorgeous wedding and wonderful people to photograph!
• 11.11- Getting an elephant made and delivered and getting to have a chocolate peanut butter milkshake afterwards
• 11.10- Getting to tour the wedding venue early to compose some shot ideas
• 11.9- My pastor
• 11.8- Morning: spending time at the new library while Emily was in daycare. Writing letters, finding books for myself and letting the older 3 kids browse. Also thankful for my right to vote. Evening: spending time visiting with my friend Adam Jones.
• 11.7- Quality time spent with Emily at the new library and grocery shopping
• 11.6- My mother in law coming to church with us before she had to head back to south GA
• 11.5- Morning: The new library is open! Evening: Going to see Joe M. Turner's magic show
• 11.4- An evening at the opera. So beautiful.
• 11.3- A (once again) stellar Bible study session
• 11.2- Dayquil
• 11.1- My awesome Aunt