We had some snow:

Monday:



Wed morning:









Wed nite (after a very fine freezing rain):






Thursday morning (snow day!):



Managed to get the van stuck Friday morning:



But hubby got it out:

Tomorrow is the big internet black out to protest SOPA/PIPA. If you don't know what they are (esp since the MSM has been pretty much ignoring it until the last day or two), type in SOPA protest into Google or other web search engine and educate yourself.

All my sites and blogs will be going black tomorrow. If you want to join in, check out Strike Against SOPA and also drop a note to your Congress Critter for good measure.

See ya all on Friday!!!!!

It was very nice to start the new year with a furnace that won't burn the house down. We did have to go with a down graded model, the code for the wiring has changed since the place was built and the wiring was no longer rated for a 15 watt model and we couldn't swing an extra grand to pay for upgrading the wiring. So we went with a 13 watt model. Does the job and we'd always supplemented the electric heat with the kerosene heaters anyways when it got super cold. We did pick up a small electric heater that will fill in any gaps if need be.

Took the tree down on Monday, the living room is no longer sparkly :( Will have to see about some new decor ideas to spruce the place up. New window treatments to start I think. Just have to figure out what. I will finish ripping out the living room carpeting this summer and then see what I can come up with for a floor treatment.

Still playing with MyPaint. Having fun with it and starting to get the hang of it. Need to see if there are more brushes for it I can add. So far my favorite are the watercolor brushes.I do admit tho, the cloud brush really makes doing clouds a lot easier LOL!

On the Purple Ducky Designs front I am still ticking along. Sales thru my Zazzle shop are doing good and I have been designing earrings and pendants to sell locally (still need to find a venue to sell them trhu). I am working on pins, but haven't found an adhesive that works well on the bits and bobs of hard drives I am using. Hot glue only holds for so long and while the super glue seems to work, all reports I've seen online from other people who do jewelry is that is gets brittle after a while.

Need to get a few more photos printed out and mounted. I want to see about getting them displayed locally. I also need to see about taking lots more that are suitable for showing.

Old, decrepit, barely running furnace:



Nice, new shiny furnace:



Thank you Ackerman Heating & Air Conditioning:

Been enjoying the week off, for the most part. Furnace problems, toilet problems, leaky ceiling problems. All the fun and joy of owning one's home. But the toilet now works and doesn't leak, the new furnace gets installed tomorrow and we'll deal with leaky ceilings another time.

Had a nice Yule and a very low key Christmas (hubby and I really do't do much). He spent the day fixing my computer which crashed. But I am up and runing now and playing with a new program called "My Paint". Okay, it isn't a new program, it came installed on one of the Linux distros he tried to install (sucked), so he put me on another distro and we installed MyPaint and I have been having fun. Still not sure what I am doing, but followed a tutorial for painting a cormorant:



Okay, it isn't a cormorant, the tutorial is not bad, but I think you are supposed to be better at painting then I am. At least it looks like a bird.

So played around some more:



Not a bad doodle if I do say so myself LOL! Definitely have to do a lot more practicing and see what I can come up with. At least this way I am not wasting paper and art supplies. Don't like what I did, I just delete and start over.

Been puttering a bit listening to music for the most part. Watched "Bag of Bones" with Pierce Brosnan, very enjoyable. Watched "Neverland", not quite as enjoyable. Not sure why, but not as satisfying as the re-interpretations of Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland Syfy did before. Maybe because I never related to the Peter Pan story as I did with Dorothy and Alice.

Haven't got around to doing all the baking and cooking I'd planned on, been playing to much on the computer LOL! I did come up with a very yummy dinner Christmas day. I browned some beef cubes, sauteed some onions, added rehydrated gourmet mushrooms and then made a dutch oven stew I slow cooked in the oven. Seasoned with salt and pepper and some balsamic vinegar it was yummy. Made some gluten free pierogies to go with and YUM!!!!!!

Got my tree Tuesday night and in the house with the stand:



Last night it got its sparklies:



So pretty in the dark:



I am loving the new LED lights, they don't put off a lot of heat, use to much electricity and they are nice and bright:



Can't wait for the after Christmas sales at Shopko so I can get more LOL!

The new year is almost here, order your calendars today:

Tabby cats by JeanC_PurpleDucky
View other Cats Calendars

A year of kitty cats (US edition) by JeanC_PurpleDucky
make a calendar with zazzle

A year of food (US edition) by JeanC_PurpleDucky
Become a calendar affiliate at zazzle.com

Calendars are half off until Dec 31, 2011:

50% of the calendar net sale price will be deducted when one or more qualifying products are purchased and the coupon code CALENDARSALE is applied at checkout. Offer is valid until December 31, 2011 at 11:59pm PT. This offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only. Expires 12/31/2011.

Use Promotional Code: CALENDARSALE

At least we had electricity and the dragons (kerosene heaters). Our furnace decided to crap out on us on Friday, so it was a bit chilly this weekend in the house. Some wires decided to melt and things stopped working. Hubby called a heating place and since we didn't want to pay weekend emergency rates, opted to have them come in to fix it today and make do with the dragons over the weekend.

Put blankets over all the door openings in the living room and that made a big difference right away and brought in the big dragon. Did a nice job, got the temp in the living room up to over 75 and we turned the dragon off to save fuel. We only turned it back on when it dropped to below 65 when we were up and about. We turned it off at night when we went to bed and cranked the electric blanket.

So with luck we shall be warm again by the time I get home tonight.

A friend who does the Winter Market here in Moscow let me have a corner of her table this last Saturday:




No sales, but a lot of my business cards walked away with people, so fingers crossed I will have some emails from people wanting to buy things. I have branched out into ornaments (pic above) and pins:




I've only two so far, some of the little bits aren't quite suitable for pins.

Made a pair of earrings for me so I can show off my work:







Yeas, that is me with a new hair style and color. My sis-in-law and her hubby came out a week ago and he helped hubby work on cars and she did my hair. Still getting used to it, it is shorter then anything I've had since I was 9. Nice easy hair style tho.

It's not too early to shop for Christmas. Buttons, magnets and key chains make great stocking stuffers and are 15% off at Purple Ducky Designs!

Fireworks 2 by JeanC_PurpleDucky
Sell art online at Zazzle.

Shouldn't have blinked :P

Ah well, the year is almost over and then it will be next year, but then it will be this year. It is like there is today and tomorrow, but when tomorrow gets here it is today, so tomorrow never actually arrives.

Gotta get more caffeine, my brain is derailing.

My sister in law and her hubby are coming in today for a few days visit. He'll help hubby work on the cars (and maybe figure out why the van isn't running) and she will do my hair. Hubby is bound and determined I will be a serious red head. In order to have the color he wants will involved a serious bit of work and I hope I still have hair when it is done (my hair isn't in the best of shape thanks to the thyroid issue). We'll see, good think I like hats.

Got the last of the turkey day leftovers into the freezer last night. Gotta start using what is in there as both of them are seriously over flowing. I still have to turn the two carcasses into stock and there really isn't room for the containers I need to stash when I am done.

Sales thru my Purple Ducky Designs shop have really picked up, I am glad. Still need to figure out how to sell my recycled earrings and mobiles online. Been looking into Google Checkout and will probably look at that after the new year on a trial basis to see how it goes. I still have to figure out things like shipping and sale tax.

Will start decorating for the holidays next week.