Sunday, December 25, 2011

A Little on Christmas




Normally, I do a post on Christmas eve, some form of variation of Twas the Night Before Christmas This year I did think about the famous poem and my usual yearly mutilations to make it fit life on our farm but to be honest, I just couldn't do it.

In former variations I tried to reflect true Christmas spirit and happenings here. I began this tradition in 2008 Twas the Night Before Christmas Each year there was some kind of change, no matter how subtle it was.
Twas the Night before Christmas 2009

Good or bad the changes were noted T'was the Night Before Christmas..........2010


Somehow the changes here this year just didn't seem to stimulate my Christmas muse. While stories untold have never been enough to stop me from dropping hints like those done in 2009, this year's journey just didn't seem to mix with my idea of Christmas spirit.

Not that I haven't seen and experienced plenty of Christmas spirit this year. It just did not lend itself to the elements the tradition of this holiday poem has been for me. The stories will be told in their own time and maybe then my Christmas muse will find itself again.

In the meantime I thought it best to reshare Molesting the Christmas Tree.......... While I really missed having a tree this year, I'm sure had we put one up, it would have fared about as well as last years. Yesterday I really did miss the tree enough to try to convince Dave and Lindsay to join me in a decorating party but Dave just didn't seem all that enthused so I let it go but I'm pretty sure he's wishing we'd not skipped on this Christmas tradition and next year it will be back alive and well, even if it does get abused by the dogs and cats.

Wishing a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Monday, December 19, 2011

That Second Page.......


Gypcy

I cannot believe is has been Thanksgiving since I did a post. I sure thought I'd be back to regular posting long before now. Actually I was really counting on it. I had added a second page to my blog hoping to raise some money for the holidays.

Before my colonoscopy I actually got many of the pictures taken thinking I would be able to get everything up during the two weeks between that test and my surgery. Instead I ended up on my back for those two weeks trying to heal up enough so my surgery wouldn't get postponed.

I guess once my stay in the hospital dragged on, I should have realized there wasn't much chance of me actually getting anythings listed before Christmas on that second page I added to my blog. As it is, I couldn't really decide if that page was going to do the job or not but I never got much farther than thinking what my alternatives actually were.

I thought about listing some things on Craigslist. I thought about building an online store or maybe building a blog specifically to feature what I have to sell. Since some of the things I want to sell are horse items, (tack etc) I thought maybe it would be best to put that stuff here on this blog but then I really haven't had the energy to do much of anything, so nothing got done.

Last year I worked at Fred Meyer for the holiday season and that took care of the gifts for family and friends. I probably would have been a good candidate for rehire this year if I hadn't gotten sick. I was actually in the hospital this year when holiday hiring was done but I pretty much already knew there wasn't much chance I'd be up to working for the holidays that's why I had decided to do that page on my blog.

My crafts have always baled me out in the past. Heck, my crafts pretty much paid for Scandalous let alone all the school clothes, birthday and holiday presents they paid for over the years. I guess it's taken until now for my denial to be broken down enough to realize that's just not going to happen for this Christmas. I know there are a lot of people struggling just like us but I have never really experienced a Christmas quite like this one before.

Dave and Lindsay opted to not have a tree this year and that hasn't helped my holiday spirit. I just can't believe there is not a tree standing in it's usual spot near the fireplace and even more so, I can't believe it's OK with Dave and Lindsay that there isn't one. Strange............the twists and turns life can take.

Reality is sinking in. Hard for it not to with Christmas just a few days away. The hardest part about this Christmas is just not being well. The other stuff doesn't really matter but I'm having a difficult time being unable to do what I love most. I miss the time with my horses and just seeing them out in the field is not enough.

I know I must behave. I actually got a little reminder of that the other day. Don't ask me what I was doing because I don't know. What I do know is that a small section of my incision reopened. It is not infected or anything like that...........just a reminder something I did was too. It's not very deep or long and it looks like healthy enough tissue but it's presence makes it pretty darn obvious I'm not ready to be off the couch and thinking about ways to raise money are probably just going to have to wait.

I had hoped I would raise enough that I would have the funds to buy software to build myself an online store. I've been thinking about building that store ever since I closed my ebay store down but I never seemed to find the time. With Dave still out of work, getting an online store going would probably be good for him. He always did my ebay shipping for me and did a great job of it.

Since the doctor thinks it's going to be a while before I am fully recovered and my body seems to be agreeing, I figured I would probably have the time I needed to get that kind of a project done. God knows I certainly have enough inventory to do it between my crafts, all the thousands of books I have etc.

If anyone has ideas about good software programs for online stores, I'm open for suggestions. I do need something that will take credit card payments probably through paypal and it needs to be fairly simple. I still haven't figured out how to use the software the online bookseller I wanted to use works so simple is a must.




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