The Christmas Spider - as promised...

A long, long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year ... Christmas Day. Not a speck of dust was left anywhere. Even the little spiders had been banished from their cozy corner high up on the ceiling. To avoid the housewife's busy cleaning, they finally fled to the farthest corner of the forgotten attic.

Finally, it was Christmas Eve. The tree was decorated and the children delighted. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the magic of the season. The oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone had gone to bed and then sneak through the crack in the door to see the wonders of the tree. The little spiders silently and carefully came down out of their attic corner and across the floor to wait in the crack on the threshold.

Pretty soon all was quiet, so the spiders quickly crept into the room. The tree towered so high that they couldn't see the ornaments on top. In fact, the little spiders' eyes were so small that they could only see one ornament at a time. They all scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long, they danced in the branches, and every place they went left a trail of dusty, gray web. When at last they had inspected every bit of the Christmas tree, it was shrouded in the dusty gray of spider webs.

Santa smiled as he thought of the happy spiders seeing the tree and how much they liked it, but he also thought of how sad the little mother would be over the dusty tree. He reached out his hand -- and just then the sun came through the window and touched the tree. All the webs started to sparkle and shine turning into shimmering, sparkling silver and gold. The tree glistened in greater beauty than ever before!

Ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Christmas trees 

and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

May all your Christmas' be special and your New Years be bright!

K

Close of 2014 - beginning of a bold new year - 2015

Hello and Happy New Year!  This has been one of those not so years - no so bad / not so good.  I hope that 2015 is brighter and better for everyone.

News for today is that I've received Mike Ford's new book - Future Ways of Robot Hearts -

Mike if you don't know, is my son, Michael - - this is his second book of poetry and short stories.  He writes directly from the heart and in a voice that we can all relate to - a true reflection of the heart.  If you get a chance - go to Amazon and order a copy for yourself - it can be a quick read - but it's also one that you can spend lots of time thinking about too.  Future Ways Of Robot Hearts

I've been spending time lately thinking about what I want to do now that I've retired.  I love crafting and creating so I would like to take off in that direction.  I also enjoy YouTube and have an account.  If you know me then please subscribe to my YouTube Channel and when I start doing videos - you will see what I am up to.

I have a Day Runner Planner that I use every day.  I just set up my new one for 2015.  I'm including a few pictures here to show how it looks.  I may do a video on it's set up.  I've seen a lot of videos about planners and set up lately and I have to say that it looks very costly and I think my Day Runner sums up the best of all worlds and works really well for me.

I use the day on two pages and keep three months in my planner at a time.  Previous, Current and Next.

This is what the package looks like.  I order mine from Amazon and it is relatively inexpensive.

 Day Runner Two-Page-Per-Day Monthly Planner Refill 2015, 5.5 x 8.5 Inch Page Size (481-225)

The day is laid out on two pages.  The sections are labeled as Prioritized Activities, Schedule, Expenses, and the second page is Daily diary/notes. 

Each month is shown at the front with a full two page spread.  There is a notes section and it shows the month before and the next month at the top of the pages.  Holidays are indicated.

The last page of the previous month faces the three month calendar and is for notes for the month.  The tab for the current month shows the previous, current and next also.  I find this calendar set up to be excellent for schedules, recording for budgets, and journaling - all in one place so I don't have to worry about missing something that I recorded somewhere else.  

The Day Runner comes with a four year over view page that can go right in the front of the planner.  It's great for long range scheduling or when you need to know what day a certain date falls on.

This shot just shows you the individual tabs for each month.

I have tried many planners over the years and find that this Day Runner works very well for me.  I keep all my appointments, record my expenses, track my pet vet needs - medicine times, etc.  Going forward I will also use it to note my time on my blog and on YouTube and any other business activity.

I'm looking forward to a much more organized year.

Stay well and be blessed! K

December 3 - time for Christmas Spiders - anyone?

I didn't quite realize how many beads I have.  I have lots of beads...not a bad thing - at least not when I want to make beaded Christmas Spiders.  I am posting some pictures today and I'll work on putting up the story soon.  Love it!

Happy December!

Another Decembr is upon us and once again all I can think is how time flies!  I've been working on setting up a December Daily and completed December 1st today.  This year I'm a little ahead of the curve and have some Christmas shopping done.  Yay!

My daughter, Becky, and I will be taking my dad back to Texas on the 9th.  Can anyone say "Road trip!"?  The winter weather here will be too hard on him and since there is a choice - he will be somewhere a little milder.  He is doing okay.  Dementia is a terrible thing - terrible is mild and all I can say right now.

I've been working in paper, polymer and beads lately and hope to settle on a schedule in the new year to show my work here, on Pinterest and maybe even YouTube.  (Not sure but we'll see.)

This is a picture of my December Daily for yesterday, 12/1:

The picture on the bottom left lifts up and my journaling is on the back.  The frame at the top also allows the picture to be removed and there is journaling on that one too.  I'm really enjoying this process and I know it will be heart warming for family in the years to come.

My grandchildren spent the last part of thanksgiving week and weekend here.  Samantha wore a pair of faded skinny jeans that had both knees ripped out.  I know this can be fun and fashionable but in the winter, cold and painful come more readily to mind.  This is a picture of the start of my repair/design work.  I will be using embroidery floss to help further anchor the flowers and rainbow fabric to the fraing denim.  Hopefully it will prevent or at least minimize curling of the fabrics after washing.  When she out grows them I will try to salvage them further by making pouches out of the legs and a bag from the butt.  

That's about all I have for today.  Hope you are all happy, healthy and able to do things you enjoy!  k