This Is Going To Be A PITA!

Thanksgiving was wonderful - really delightful. Even though the turkey took longer to cook than planned, that was because it wasn't 100% defrosted when I took it from the refrigerator. It turned out to be a very tasty bird, though, and all of the accompanying side dishes, rolls and finally pie were also perfect. The one downer to the day was that my main computer died - it won't power up properly. I'll send an email to my computer guru later this morning and hopefully take it out to him on Wednesday, first thing. In the meantime, I can handle my day-to-day with my laptop and occasional use of DH's main computer. I'm injured, not brought down. 

I'm getting the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" on my main
computer, so I'm stuck using my laptop and a vastly
inferior graphics program for my pics and blog until
my computer guru can fix my main machine. *sigh*

You might not have graphics to accompany my posts on the laptop, though. I don't have Photoshop installed on this computer and usually graphics are too large - I downsize them in Adobe to keep things reasonable for all of you to open easily. So, apologies - it'll be text only for a short time. 

My two-day sale at the shop begins today, and we had a really good opening percentage of our email, so hopefully will have a great response. We only have two sales a year - after Thanksgiving for two days and after Christmas for either three or four days. We'll have a four-day at the end of December, with a Sunday off between days two and three. 

I'm going to cut this off here and try to get it posted to all the appropriate locations with the correct settings. This might be a bit of a POA for a few days, so I apologize in advance. Have a great Friday and my plan is to be here again tomorrow. 

What Day Is It Again?

I awakened this morning and it took me a little bit to remember that it's Wednesday, not Tuesday. I'm really grateful that it's Wednesday, I don't think I have the strength to add another day to my work week. But today is a busy one. It's my "day off" which means that I have errands all day and a nice break to talk with Aearwen late this afternoon. Hopefully today the gremlins can keep themselves out of our talk.

By the time Aearwen and I had been interrupted or had our phone call
dropped for the fourth time last week, we finally gave up and stopped
our conversation early. Hopefully today will go smoother. 

It's rather frightening - February is almost over and I look back over the month and wonder what I've accomplished. Sure, I've written some things, but nothing of any real impact (except, possibly my Olorin tale - "A Recipe for Success"). I've really been concentrating on getting the rhythm of the gym every morning and seeing what I can do to fold writing into that schedule. I'll need to have this down to a fine science by the time NaNoWriMo comes around, or I'll have to skip NaNo, which would be disappointing.

I want a sense of accomplishment! I want, I want!
(And I want the skills to produce a pumpkin carving this good!)

But I feel remarkably unaccomplished so far this year. Maybe that will change in March. DH is continuing to fight his way back to good health and with both of us focused, I do feel as if we're actually getting somewhere on that, but me? Meh!

Maybe I accomplished something after all. All three of today's
random pictures are colored in similar fashion and make a really
nice grouping. HAH! Take THAT, feelings of unaccomplishment! 

Maybe it's just a "Meh" kind of day. I'll feel better after an hour in the pool. Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Stumbling Blocks

The best made plans, the best intentions, yadda, yadda, yadda... Phooey! I had planned to bring the rest of my trip to a conclusion and then party on for the rest of the week. But NO! I had to renew and re-install my anti-virus program and my Angie's List subscription (all coming due at the same time - sigh). By the time I was finished with all of that, only getting two of the three computers and my phone updated with the correct anti-virus program, I was out of time. So instead of a lot of words, today you get pictures of stumbling blocks. Tomorrow I'll try for my wrap-up again, but today...here we go.

I have a feeling that if I was walking through this, I'd end up with a twisted ankle. 

I saw many pictures of stepping stones, but I really liked the gate in the
far distance of this picture. Here we have a goal - to see what lies beyond
the pathway and explore new adventures. 

Here's an interesting perspective, and one that I find I can't really
disagree with. Perhaps your personal experiences have been
different, but I don't fit into preconceived notions of roles very well. 

I wish I knew the artist of this picture, but it's lovely. I have named it
"Stepping Stones of Life", but it probably has a more esoteric title. 

Stumbling blocks don't have to be physical. Communication and just
finding the correct word can be a stumbling block. I've been known to
sit and look at a blank screen for long minutes while searching for that
elusive "perfect" word. 

So what will you do with your stumbling blocks today? You can fall over
them and explore the ground at your nose level - pretty interesting stuff there
sometimes, or you can stack them up and discover the sky. Will you fly! 

So help someone today to avoid their own stumbling blocks. Make life
a bit smoother for the people around you and remember to smile. A smile
is contagious and often will smooth over those stumbling blocks. 

Have a fabulous Tuesday, hopefully I'll catch up with my emails within my lifetime and can get back to posting content instead of just pictures and thoughts.

Stumbling Blocks - Photos and Thoughts

I'm stumbling over my time schedule this morning, running more than half-an-hour late for a variety of reasons. So, no text today, just photos of stumbling things to pull you into your weekend. Have a great weekend and hopefully I'll be caught up by Monday.

Well - here I am,. stumbling over my schedule yet again...

These brass Stolpersteine in Berlin were created by artist Gunter Demnig. 
Each brass stumbling stone begins with the words "Here Lived"
followed by the name of a person, the place and date of their birth, the
year they were deported (1941 or 1942) and where they were
killed (either Riga or Lodz).

The artist has put more than 30,000 brass plaques throughout Germany with
the names of Jews, homosexuals, political dissidents, Gypsies, and others
who were killed by the National Socialists. Each plaque is individually'
designed and individually installed.
Follow the link for more information. 

The Japanese set their stepping stones in crooked paths because
evil spirits can only move in straight lines. They believe that as you
walk the crooked paths, you should look at the new views presented
with each directional change and learn from the new perspectives. 

Try to keep positive even when falling over stumbling blocks. 

Have a great weekend. I'll be attending the Matisse exhibit tomorrow, so I'm happy, happy....