Time flies When You're....

   BUSY!!!

 Hard to believe I haven't posted nor checked in much since my last post on Dec. 4th. That was when I mentioned caring for two elderly relatives lately. In addition to that and since then, our son lost his job and hubby was given a week's notice that he had to go on another shift and that our healthcare was changing and needed my immediate attention.. Needless to say I have been inundated with appointments, errands and paperwork since. Our son has rent obligations along with car payments and student loans so we have been helping him with all the unemployment papers and helping him stay organized and upbeat. We have reached out to friends and acquaintances for any possible job leads and they have been an amazing support. I work every day at keeping the faith and believing all will be well. I know I have to have some balance so hubby and I did manage  some fun things in between. 

   Last month we had bought tickets to see the Tenors (formerly called the Canadian Tenors). We have been wanting to see them live for a long time. We also took my Mom as a Christmas gift. And so we drove just over an hour away into Reading, PA to the theater to see them. Oh, Reading has also gotten world-wide publicity lately because of "the ugly Christmas tree" dispute. We weren't able to stop and get a picture but we did see it-yup, just like the tree in Charlie Brown's Christmas .

 This theater was built in the 1870's and the opulence and craftmanship inside is stunning! The Tenors did not disappoint either-they were AMAZING!!

 Besides their incredible voices, they were so personable, talking and interacting with the audience (including me-teehee) throughout the show. We had 2nd row seats!!!

  Although very little got accomplished for the upcoming holidays I did manage to get a bit of decorating, cards, and shopping done.

  At Freshly Made Sketches the challenge sketch is this:

  I managed to get a quick and easy card done before cleaning up my desk:

    A round gift tag and coordinating papers were used on a kraft note card. I am also linking this to the Simon Monday Challenge (anything goes); and the Simon Wednesday Challenge (winter inspiration)).

  In cleaning up my desk I added a new mug my Mom just bought me(the one on the left) and found it to be perfect to keep  my favorite colors of markers together:

                                         We have this thing for all things Paris and French:)
                        Linking this to my friends at T Stands For Tuesday - I have missed you! And although I don't have a pic- since our son was pretty young our tradition was to leave Santa a glass of egg nog(the kind with the alcohol) and cookies. He likes coming here:):)

 And lastly, (linking this to Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday) I am wishing all of you a most beautiful holiday season, however you celebrate!!

 

  I wasn't able to manage individual hand made cards this year so I created this "glam girl" journal page a la Traci Bautista, added the greeting digitally and had postcards made to send out. I will visit as many of you as I can but know you are in my thoughts and wishes.

 Today I will leave you with a quote I have been reading every day since all life's unexpected changes lately (it came in an email the day our son lost his job) and have given a copy to Todd to keep in his wallet as a reminder also:

   "For everything that falls through, something equal or better comes through."   Alan Cohen