• I just got home from the mall. My son asked me to give him a ride, so I agreed. I have no problems giving him rides to places he wants to go - especially when it’s raining outside. He asked me if I wanted to go in with him and look around, and I said I didn’t. I could tell he was disappointed, which shocked me, so I changed my mind and told him I’d go in with him. He’d gotten some Christmas/birthday money from a couple of his grandparents, so he was dying to spend it. He got a Zelda wallet, a keychain, and a tobacco roller.

• My feet are cold. I wonder where my slippers are.

• I couldn’t find ‘em and didn’t feel like going downstairs, so I just asked Sunny if I could borrow hers. She said, “Sure!”

• My slippers are way more cozy than Sunny’s. Now I feel guilty for her lack of coziness. But hey - I let her choose out of the entire section and these are the ones she went with.. So nevermind. No more guilt. Besides, hers cost twice what mine did!

• I’m doing the Master Cleanse Diet. This time, for 5-6 days. So far, it’s going very well. I’ve had 6 what I like to call “Lemon Cocktails” so far, and four bottles of water. When I say “bottles”, I’m referring to that enormous bottle from my last blog entry. So yeah - I’ve taken in lots of fluids today. I LOVE the flavor of the Lemon Cocktails, so this is working well. If I start to feel hungry, I go drink one. Then I come back upstairs and chuck a bunch of water. No more hunger. The hunger will be there for the first 2-3 days, but then it’ll be simple. I should know, I’ve starved myself plenty of times in my life. This is the first time I’m doing it in a healthy way. It feels good to know that. My kids and Lonnie need me, after all.

• I’ve been getting at least one Christmas card per day! Today I got one from Casey!!! I was so excited. The card was so cool, too. It was black with silver on it…totally hip and stylish. She said on Twitter that she got mine today, too! I hope she liked it. Mine was more cute than stylish…hehe. Matthew said that his family got mine today, too!!! I am loving this! I’m going to continue to write to so many people after the holidays are over. They’ll probably be sorry they ever gave me their address.

• I need to call my Dad tomorrow. I didn’t talk to him at all last week! That’s a first time in a very long time that a week’s gone by without talking to him. I HATE it when that happens.

• I don’t think I’m going to take my multi vitamin while doing this Master Cleanse thing. I don’t want to do something wrong. I’m following the instructions to the letter.

• I dropped into Bath & Body Works while we were at the mall. I sprayed a sample of one of their holiday perfumes on myself. It’s called Warm Vanilla Sugar®, and I LOVE it! I sprayed a spritz on my wrist, took a whiff and went, “Ahhhhhh”…so then I sprayed my neck, too. Mmmm…I can still smell it. I love it! They had matching hand lotion, so I used that as well. It’s only $26.50 for 2.5 Fluid Ounces…that’s a very reasonable price. I wish I had it. I’d go buy it up STAT! I adore smelling good. It’s so important to me. I hate to smell overly perfumey, but I love to have a hint of, “Mmmm…she smells so good!”

• I have no idea what to make the family for dinner tonight. I don’t want to make something I really, really like since I can’t eat it, but I want them to have something they enjoy. Hmm…I’ll think of something.

• Lonnie’s sicker than a dog today. He’s been all Hell bent on getting super healthy lately. Well, he went a bit too far this time and over dosed on vitamins. Now he’s paying for it. He feels horrible. Headache, body aches, nauseated….the whole niner. Perhaps this will finally teach him to chill out when it comes to his body. You just can’t go taking 320483 different types of vitamins and vitamin juices…etc., and expect to feel wonderful. It doesn’t work that way. I feel really crappy for him, but GOSH!!! It’s his own doing.

• The shorter French tips are working out so much better for typing. I can handle this much better. They look way less cool and sexeh, but better than nothing.

• My right shoulder is KILLING me today. I keep getting a total cramp in it. I need to use the percussion massager on it. I wish Lonnie felt more up to it. That’d be lovely. That’s okay, though. I can do it myself.

• I wish Sarah was online right now. We were going to webcam tonight! I wonder what she’s doing. Probably the usual - being the best wife and mother known to man.

• Today is the anniversary of my ex’s death. I can’t believe how well I’m doing. I must be learning to get over it. I haven’t even cried once today! That was another reason I started The Master Cleanse Diet today. Symbolism. I’m cleansing myself inside and out! It’s just one more way for me to rid myself of him & his horrible memory.

• I suppose I’ll call it quits for now. Have a wonderful day/night, everyone!!!

One of my best friends, Casey, recently got a new companion. His name is Little Bear - LB for short…and he’s the most adorable little guy you’ve ever seen. Some of the stories Casey has told me about LB really warm my heart. He seems like such a sweet, gentle, and affectionate little guy…and I’ve never even seen him other than in pictures!

Speaking of pictures, Casey posted a bunch new photos of LB earlier. When I heard about it, I immdiately raced over to her photo album so I could see LB in all his cuteness!!! As soon as I laid eyes on him I, I said, “I have to make something for him. He’s just too cute not to! I know he won’t even know I did it, but still….how can I resist?

Soooo, that being said, I made sort of a collage thing for LB & Casey.
Here it is….click on it to enlarge it:

It was so much fun to make and I really hope Casey likes it.

LB won’t care less, but maybe Casey will like it a lot!

Love ya’, Casey! xoxo

Haven’t you heard yet? Today is the best day known to man: National Coffee Day!

I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that had it not been for Eric Anderson’s post over on Pownce I wouldn’t even have known that this glorious holiday was upon us!

(By the way; Eric Anderson has some really awesome Pownceage…and his site is packed full of awesome stuff. He really seems to be an super cool guy with an amazing amount of killer links to things all over the Net. [He’s a designer, too! w00t!] I highly recommend reading what he’s got to say!)

Anyway, back to this glorious holiday! Coffee….ahhh, yes. The beverage of life. As anyone who really knows me knows, I am an avid coffee drinker. I average 2-3 pots of coffee per day. I can’t even begin to express how much I love the stuff. There have been times when I’ve weened myself down and done without it for a week or two here and there…but I always go back to it. Absence from it only makes my heart grow fonder!

So, how are you going to celebrate National Coffee Day this year? Are you going to go to Starbucks or some other shop that you consider your favorite and indulge in the finest of brews? Are you going to stay at home and drink your coffee the way you normally do? Are you maybe going to melt some milk chocolate and cover some tasty coffee beans in it? Or will today be like every other day?

Please share your coffee-lovin’ stories with me! I am dying to know if you are as excited over this holiday as I am. I would love to know how you’re going to celebrate…if at all. And even if you’re not, that’s perfectly fine, too. I totally understand that not everyone is an addict like I am. I do know, though, that my BFF Sarah, and my other amazing friend, Casey, will be appreciating this day in some way, shape or form. Even if they go through with their normal routines, I have absolutely no doubts that knowing it’s National Coffee Day will mean something big to both of them! Birds of a feather really do flock together!    

In closing, I would just like to say once more…
HAPPY NATIONAL COFFEE DAY!!!

After posting my last blog entry, I learned that both Sarah & Casey have pink tumblers as well!     I hurried and took a picture of said tumbler so I can find out if either or both of them have the same exact tumbler!

Wouldn’t that be so cool?!  

Okay…maybe it’d not be that cool to anyone else,

but it would be flippin’ awesome to me!

Anyway, here is the Almighty Tumbler…

Sooooo…now I will just sit here and wait to hear from Sarah and Casey!   

 • I’ve gotten a really good start on the site design for that fireworks company I was talking about previously. It feels good to have gotten so much work done today…although I probably should have gotten even more done.

• I’m listening to this album called “Arabic Lounge” right now. I enjoy this stuff quite a bit. It’s a lot different from the norm, but that’s a good thing.

• We watched “The Sasquatch Gang” two nights ago. I totally loved it. It’s from the same guys who made “Napoleon Dynamite“…and you can tell. It has the same feeling to it - not to mention lots of the same actors are in it. If you enjoyed “Napoleon Dynamite”, you’d probably enjoy “The Sasquatch Gang” as well.

• Dinner sucked tonight. Everyone else liked it, but I hated it. I decided to make Hamburger Helper…but with ground turkey instead of beef. (Lonnie and I don’t eat beef, pork, lamb, buffalo, deer…anything but chicken, turkey, and seafood.) Hamburger Helper is already pretty disgusting, but when you make it with turkey, it’s even more nasty.

• I need to make a bunch more designs for products in my shop. It’d be nice if there were more hours in a day. I hate feeling so bogged down with this ginormous To Do list.

• My coffee was SO good today. I got some fresh beans last night…Mmmm…  

• I’m going to the doctor tomorrow. I promised Lonnie I would. I hate doctors. They suck. All of ‘em. They’re never very nice…and the ones who are nice don’t seem to help much, anyway.

• The reason I’m going to the doc…well, there are actually two reasons. 1. My back/neck pain has gotten unbearable again. 2. I need an increase in dosage of my meds. The anxiety/panic and depression are getting super bad again, and I hate it. I’ll be okay…I just need the right level of chemicals in me.

• I’m hungry for dessert. I shouldn’t say that. I’m actually not hungry at all…just craving something sweet. Ice cream would be good. Or a Snickers would rock, too!

• It’s so weird that I like sweets so much lately. I used to dislike them a lot. I never ever craved sweet stuff. It seems like the older I get, though, the more I like them. Just what my thighs need!

• I switched back to the Mirage Alpha Opera skin yesterday. I needed a change.

• For those of you who use Twitter, you should really check TweetDeck out! I sent the link to Casey earlier today, and she agrees that it’s badass! Do it!

• I’m soooo cold! I wish I could talk Lonnie into turning the A/C off.

• I downloaded a new color browser today. It’s really awesome. I’ve already put it to good use while working on that fireworks site earlier. You should check it out if you’re into that sort of thing.

• These people should pay me to be advertising their programs like this! …just kidding, but wouldn’t that pwn?!

• Alright…time to go back to work. The last thing I need is to get out of my creative groove. That would TOTALLY suck!

• I’m listening to Radiohead again. Yes, I know…again.    I can’t help it.  I love ‘em.

• I’m kinda blah today. Not sad, not depressed, not…whatever. Just blah. I’m here.

• I just changed my sidebar mood thingy to “Just here.”

• I’ve been posting the heck out of Twitter lately. I’m not sure why, but that thing’s addictive! I was sitting here looking at their site earlier and was in awe over the simplicity of it. Seriously. Why couldn’t I have thought of that?! It’s SO simple! Between Lonnie & me, we could’ve built that sucker in a couple days…or less. Oh well…more power to ‘em! I’m happy for whomever came up with the idea. It’s a gem.

• I mowed the lawn yesterday. BIG freakin’ mistake. Ouch…I’m paying for it. My back was totally not up to it…but it had to be done. I could have asked someone else to do it, but umm…I think not. I’m way to picky and anal retentive for that. If they didn’t do it the same exact way I do it, it’d drive me crazy until I went back over it…which would make them feel like crap (rightfully so)…which would have led to resentment…etc. Sooo, the back pain is worth it to save my family! Wow…my logic is so screwy!

• The lawn looks flippin’ awesome!

• Lonnie made me something yesterday…oh man…SOOOO cute! I am going to take pictures and post them. I want everyone to see how much my man loves me. Hehe

• I’m going to make him a loaf of Banana Bread in return. He doesn’t expect anything in return, but I just gotta.

• I spoke with my Dad on Friday of last week. He sounds MUCH better. He said he’s feeling better, but he’s still in quite a bit of pain. That’s to be expected. I cannot wait until he’s fully healed and able to do lots of stuff he hasn’t been able to do in a long time. It’ll really make me happy to know that he’s enjoying life.

• My online store got its first sale!!! Yay! Casey AKA Princess Pwn (haha) bought a Short Bus Hoodie! I am SO stoked! I cannot wait to see a picture of it…and to hear how she likes it, etc.

• I’m supposed to be working right now…on a layout design for a fireworks company. I’m not exactly sure which way to go with it. I have a few ideas roaming around in my head, but nothing solid yet. It should actually be a pretty fun layout to create. I’ve got a lot of creative freedom in this one…which is so killer! That doesn’t happen so often.

• I have this really bad habit of clenching my jaw too much. I do it so much that I give myself headaches. That’s what’s going on right now. As soon as I realize I’m clenching my jaw, I stop myself…but then a few minutes later I catch myself doing it again. I’m such a dipstick!

• I hate it when the coffee at the very bottom of my cup gets cold and I accidentally take a drink of it thinking that it’s still hot. GAH! What a rude awakening!

• GRRRR!!! I was just clenching my jaw again! :slaps self:

• It’s gloomy again today. I’m noticing a drastic increase in gloomy days as of late. :sigh: Boo & hiss! That means Fall’s on the way….I dread this time of year. It used to be my favorite time of year in Montana, but here in Oregon and Washington it’s absolutely miserable. I actually used to love rain, but now I loathe it. It’d be one thing if it rained a lot in Fall & Winter….but not constantly. It literally rains every single day for months. Before we moved here people were telling me, “I hope you like rain!” and, “It’s hard to get used to the rain”…etc. At the time I thought, “Psssht. Whatever. I love rain! I can handle it.” Wow, was I wrong! It’s truly the most depressing thing ever. I already have problems with depression…and especially seasonal depression. But to add this incessant rain into the mix - well, I don’t know how I’m going to make it through another year of it. I’m going to look into purchasing a light box, though. My insurance should cover it, so at least there’s a little glimmer of hope.

• Alright, it’s time to go work now. I’ve procrastinated about four hours away so far. I’m sure Lonnie’s totally thrilled about it, too! Haha…have a killer day, everyone! :love: