MOVE! BUSY THOSE HANDS! BUSY YOUR MIND!

 Move, Jan!

Busy those hands, Jan!

Busy your mind, Jan!

 And it will free your spirit for prayer.

Your fears, your longings, your troubles, they won't disappear,

but, you'll be able to hear God as he encourages you.

And, you'll remember to allow him to carry your burdens.

 And, that's what I did.

I started with the Creepy Doll room

and moved on to the living room bookshelves.

 I removed all of the books

except my Bobbsey Twins and

the Tank's Texas history books.

 I rummaged around in my

'needs to be listed on Etsy' cabinets,

in sacks in the garage

and found enough wonderful things to fill the shelves. 

 A few of the things are family heirlooms

such as my grandpa's pocket watch and

Thomason Civil War Bibles.

But, most came from my 'stores'.

 I'm not finished yet.

I'm going to turn the books around

so that the yellowed pages show, not the spines.

That will be my first move in my resolve

to fill my bookcases with creams, tea stained, and dirty whites.

That's the look I'm going for in this big re-do.

 But, for now I am happy enough with the look.

It was important that the changes I made

didn't involve spending any money

and I accomplished that.

 The most important thing that I've accomplished

in the bookcase make-over

is that it's kept my mind busy.

 Seriously?

When I'm idle Satan is able to balance on my shoulder

and whisper his lies in my ear.

 Jesus is holding me up this week

as I deal with my Brittany's serious car accident.

 She's better.

Her pelvic bone is fractured but no surgery needed.

Lots of P.T. and non-wieght bearing right leg for 3 months.

Her liver will heal.

I know why.

Why she's doing so well.

Oh, I'm not saying that she's

not in horrid pain, because at times she is in pain.

A lot of pain.

But, the precious Lord is being bombarded with prayers.

Prayers from those of us who love her

and prayers from other believers.

He hears them all so keep praying.

Please.

Because she will heal and your prayers will help.

You know what?

I can't imagine how I would handle life

without my faith.

How do they do it??

Praise the Lord.

I love you.

You're so, so special to me.

JAN

My Brittany ("Brat")

I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN

I'm blessed to the max, but a fairytale??

.......not so much

How do y'all do it??

You make it seem so effortless.

I've come to the conclusion that some of you

might be a wee bit O.C.D.

And the rest of you never sleep.

Me??

I feel like Barbie every minute of every hour of every day.

Did you know that I qualify for that Hoarders show on T.V.?

Yeah, I'm a Mixed Media Hoarder.

It's gotten so bad that I haven't completely unpacked from two art retreats....

both held last year and then there's this year's p.c. retreat...

Oh, and estate sales, flea markets, resale shops, junk shops,

people's trash by the side of the road,

crack house apartments being demo'd - I stopped to see

what treasures I could find.

I found a pick-up load. No kidding.

In an effort to keep up with something,

I made a promise to myself - it was about a week ago -

I was going to keep up with my blog roll.

Then I got this great idea that I would "rotate" some blogs

 off to get the number of blogs I read  I'm supposed to be reading

under 200. It didn't work.

I added six new blogs.

Oh, and my blogging??

I think it's so cute that you feel you have to ask.

I'm about 8 or 9 posts behind.

I plan on catching up.

Surely I can find the time.

The rest of you manage to blog, read your blog roll,

scour estate sales, create!, list all of your many creations

in your Etsy shop,

mail out all of the orders you get "the next day",

host swaps, be in five or more swaps at a time,

teach workshops, attend art retreats,

raise your well-behaved children,

cook well-balanced meals for your well-behaved children

and your darling husband,

and I'll bet you clean your own house, too.

AND, you work.

YOU WORK!...

I don't.

Work, that is.

I will admit that I have a couple of medical adventures

that I deal with on a daily basis, but I DON'T WORK....

Where are you finding the time??

I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't a master plan

of *church lady's voice* "Saaa-tan".

I can hear him now, telling his evil little elves,

"Let's drive Jan nuts. I know just how to do it..."

I see you looking at the picture above of my kitchen

and at the picture just below of our bedroom.

These pictures are a few years old.

I've been pretty immobile off and on for the last six years

and I can assure you that the kitchen doesn't look

like the picture above.

The Tank's had free reign and that speaks volumes.

And the bedroom??

Well, both areas had probably just been cleaned

by my cleaning lady when these pictures were snapped.

That cleaning lady was 'let go' yesterday.

Let's just say I didn't vote for Obama

and we use to have money left over

every month for that cleaning lady...

for the last 25 years.

I'll be doing the cleaning from now on.

Well, all except the Tank's bathroom.

I refuse to go into that room.

There's a reason a man should have his own bathroom.

Oh, and one last special little thing I want to

share with you about my life...

I haven't cooked or baked in years.

Mostly because of illnesses, broken bones,

snapped tendons and leg braces, blah, blah, blah.

I told Frank yesterday that I'd start cooking again.

Yeah.

I think my meds need to be adjusted.

So, here it is, sweet friends.

I'll probably re-read this story and realize

that it's completely disjointed

but, heck, I really don't care.

I have dinner to cook.

And, I'm doing the best I can.

GARLAND, GARLAND, WHO LOVES GARLAND??

Well, I do!
I love garland!!
I love them so much that I have a "MERRY CHRISTMAS" garland hanging in my studio year round. It was a gift from my friend, Keesha and I would never take it down; it would feel like I was totally taking Keesh down to the basement. I have other garland in my studio, too. Some from friends and one that I made ("NEST" - precious and always for sale *hawk - hawk*).

I love garland so much and I love you so much that I'm going to tell you about a garland giveaway. I know, I know, I'm too nice.

Before we get to the giveaway may I just say that I wish I was the one that thought of this?? Why couldn't it have been me??
Okay. *deep breath* I feel better............now for the giveaway:

GIVEAWAY - Gorgeous Kristina Marie Recycled Paper GARLAND As Seen in Martha Stewart Weddings (Don't you just die for Martha?)

KristinaMarie is the amazing Etsy shop where the most beautiful recycled paper garlands are created.


Kristine Osborne's gorgeous work was recently featured in Martha Stewart Weddings Spring 2010 issue as a stunning example of an amazingly unexpected way to decorate ceremony chairs. (featured in Martha??? Dying. I'm dying.)

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive this Gorgeous Recycled Hymnal Paper Garland Strand in Color - 10 feet / as seen in Martha Stewart Weddings Spring 2010!

Go over to  olivebites blog to enter the giveaway! (And while you're there, check out her blog - you'll have a great time!)



Only because I love you all so much!
. . . . . . . ..xoxo, Jan

OMG, I'M GLAD I DIDN'T USE THE WORD "CREEPY"!!!

Oh, my gosh, Oh, my gosh, Oh, my gosh!

Okay, here's what happened.

Okay, so for some stupid reason I decide that I should be on Twitter.

I know, I know, I've been stuck in this chair entirely too long.

So, I'm thinking, well, what can it hurt; it'll be good marketing.

So, I join and, of course, I have no one to follow so I follow twittercritter - through the pet adoption site that I belong to that adopts out homeless dogs and cats.

Not much marketing there. Dogs and cats don't read, but it's a start, I think.

THEN, today, oh my gosh, I get this notice that this someone is now following me on Twitter.

See, on Twitter, you post things you're doing. It can be a post a day, 20 posts a day if you have no life.....it can be about anything from "I just folded the Tank's wife beaters." to "You should go to my etsy store at http://www.jthom03.etsy.com/ and buy something. You might win a prize."

(Of course, there's no prize, but I would think that the purchased item would be considered a prize.)

Okay, so I get that notice today that someone is following me on Twitter.

Get this.

This is the kinda creepy thing.

Maybe I shouldn't say "creepy" since I don't know who I'm dealing with.

Let's say "odd".

Should I say "odd"? Maybe that will set them off.

Okay, we'll go with....."I get that notice today that someone is following me on Twitter.

Get this.

This is the kinda different, but not creepy or odd thing."

I notice it, because it shows you, that this person is also following almost SIXTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE.

What???

She takes her laptop into the head with her? (Sorry - three boys)

"SIXTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE???"

Go-o-o-o-od grief.

And that's when the doubt sets in about being a part of this group.

But, it gets even BETTER!

I click on her name to check her (in all fairness and to give this it's due privacy, let us use "her/him") out and this message comes up:

"Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity. Mosey along now, nothing to see here."

"A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H" *running around the room with my toe up holding my head in my hands*

What do I do???

How do you get off Twitter once they have you in their grip?

Is there a Twitter police force?

Anyone got their number?

Why aren't background checks done on 'different' people?

Who all is following me and why do strangers care what I'm doing this afternoon???

"Oh, look, Harry, it says that Jan Thomason is putting new sheeting around the bottom of their trailer."

Who are these people?

Do you think they're reading my blog, too?

LURKING?????

Ah, geez, and what about my FaceBook???

"Today I'm sitting with my toe in the air as per doctor's orders."

Why would strangers read that stuff about strangers?

Why would strangers want to be my friend?

Are they friendless?

Well, if they're friendless, I'm pretty sure I'm not the perfect pick for them.

And where does it all end?

If we think too deeply about our interactions with people through ANY medium, we can scare ourselves silly.

So, just so you know, we're moving.

Yes, we're moving to.....Scotland.

Yes, that's right.

Scotland.

And, we're moving tomorrow.

DISCLAIMER: NO DISRESPECT WAS INTENDED TOWARDS, TWITTER, TWITTER LOVERS, FACEBOOK, FACEBOOK LOVERS, BLOGS, BLOG LOVERS, DOG AND CAT LOVERS, STRANGER LOVERS OR LOVERS OF SCOTLAND.

.

XOXO, Jan

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF SOME FABULOUS TAGS!

Two previous posts not to miss:

• THERE'S AN ART RETREAT IN TEXAS!!
• "I got AWESOME!!!"

Hi, y'all! I have been trying to get a few things accomplished at my worktable before mom and I load up the car and head for Texas! It seems like I've spent most of my time here working on my computer - necessary, but not the fun part of having two web shops!
These tags and a picture of part of their coordinating envelopes are just to give you a glimpse of what I've been up to besides shopping online. LOL
These first two tags are two of a set of eight that are the same theme, but different looking tags, all with wonderful and different accents - clear as usual, huh!

They'll be listed for sale in my lollishop . . . . .and maybe half of them in my Etsy shop.

This is the front left side of the envelope - I like to do a little something to the envelopes to make the tag and envelope look like a set. *smiley face* Oh, these next tags are so stinkin' cute! There's six of them, they're all different, but they all have a cute little cupcake under the smaller tag on top that can be moved. Isn't that a darling idea? LOL - Okay, I thought it was darling! And, you get a peek of the coordinating envelope that comes with each tag.

These tags, all with wonderful glitter and other great embellishments, will be listed in my Lollishop.

See the "hidden" cupcake on the tag on the left? The cupcake is still hidden on the tag on the right. What a fun surprise!


Well, that was fun! I just love showing you the things I'm working on!
I hope you're having a wonderful moment looking at them...........thanks so much for stopping by!


XOXO,

, , , , ,Jan