Probably gonna be a long post...

Sorry, I haven't been in blogging mode lately. This was a busy week. I am done with the school semester, having to take finals on Wednesday and Thursday. I don't feel the relief yet until I get my grades... We got pounded with snow yesterday, but I still had to make my way into work because I live fairly close. It was a quiet day and I had to wrap things up to be off for the next 2 weeks. That's right, I worked my vacation so that I have 2 full weeks off now!!! Four of those days we get off through the company anyway and the rest I took as vacation. My hubby has 2 weeks off too, although his place always has the week between X-mas and New Years off as a given. We will be spending about half of that time with friends and family and the other half for our own much needed R & R!

So let's see... what's new with me. I have a place in Andrew Thornton's charm club - yeah! And, I got Anne Choi's new skull bead! Merry Christmas to me!!!

I didn't put up our big tree this year. There were many reasons why I talked myself out of it: I was busy and any spare time I had I wanted to work on jewelry, we aren't physically here on any of the actual holidays, and I wasn't sure if the place where I usually put it was going to be full of my dining room furniture since I have no idea when the work is going to start on the water damage we've had. Lame, I know. So instead, I just put up one of my smaller "theme" trees with all of my peacocks on it. I put this tree up every year anyway, just in a different location. Besides ornaments, I have also found over the years peacock ribbons and wrapping paper. I have some faux wrapped gifts with those elements to save each year to put under this tree.I did put up 8 pieces of my town though. I have way too many decorations for any sane person. Years and years ago, I started collecting lighted houses and accessories from a company called Kurt Adler. The name of my holiday town is "Snowtown". I would describe it as whimsical/folk art/glittery. If you look inside the windows, you can see there are even painted scenes inside!

There is a spin off of "Snowtown" called "Gingerbread Junction" which I also have. I also have the "Angel Heights" collection and "Springtown" for Easter. Yeah... a lot. I probably do have the room to put up all the winter ones: "Snowtown", "Gingerbread Junction", and "Angel Heights" but I usually rotate different ones each year because I merely don't have the energy. This year, I took a look at eBay to see if anyone was selling any of these suckers and sure enough, they were. I don't think these collections are made anymore so some of the prices sure opened my eyes. Enough to where I decided to sell 2 of the houses that weren't my favorites and the accessories to go with them. I was happy with the sales and in turn, they allowed me to splurge on this vintage owl sweater:

I just love the saying on it - probably too offensive to wear to work, eh?

Well, since this sure jumped all over the place, I'll sign off now! Wait, one more thing: my skin is so dry it is driving me crazy!!! I usually don't get this dry until mid-January! I am not a big fan of lotion. Even if I find a non-greasy one, I don't know why I think those extra few minutes in the morning is going to throw off my schedule. I think I'll have to give in though.