TGIF

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I've been making piles of these cards this week. I've only made these in blue before but I'm digging the other colors a lot. Yellow/gold is next and last in this series. (Fellow crafters will love the giant roll of foam tape in the background.)



Pretty much every design for cards or framed art piece will have matching adhesive notes available. These green ones are awaiting the Swarovski crystals in the center of the flowers - they should arrive today, I think. I have a good supply of the clear crystals, which are cool - they pick up whatever color paper they are paired with - but I also ordered them in 4 colors for these cards and note pads. I'm not normally a glitzy kind of girl but they add just the right amount of specialness to things, I think.

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Back to Johnny Depp for a second - if you've seen any of the Pirate movies, be sure to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: Bonus Material. It's all about the making of the movie - special effects, make-up, bloopers - the whole deal. We're in the middle of it now and it's excellent. (Mom - have you seen this? It's totally up your alley. If you haven't seen it, I'd be happy to drop it off. Wait - you have a DVD player, don't you? How come I can't remember??)

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Not to be a big whiner but what a crappy week I've had. How crappy, you ask? I called my massage therapist on the way home last night, asking to change my Monday appointment to today. (I had made the appointment for Monday this time, just to change up the routine a bit and because I thought I might be stressed from a busy weekend, working at the Clothesline art show with MJ while trying to squeeze in time for my own work plus the dreaded grocery shopping.)

I'm taking this afternoon off - to craft - and get a break from work. After my massage. It's amazing how that hour washes the week off me. I don't like to fall asleep - why pay good money to sleep through a massage? - but I definitely go to my "happy place" - completely zoned out. It's a skill. Thank you.

The New York State sales tax audit began this week. The guy (and his trainee) are both very nice and easy to work with but man, is it involved. I found out how little I know about the big picture of our operation. I mean, I know my piece really well and I know other pieces kinda sorta, but not the details. I spent a moment feeling inadequate, then decided I can't know everything - we all have our own jobs we specialize in. So I'm getting the right people who know their own pieces involved.

It's quite different than I remember the previous audit years ago, even though I wasn't involved in that one. That person was with us for weeks - in and out - but weeks. This guy was here this week for 3 days, getting to know our operation. Next we'll communicate by email for a couple of months, he said, then he'll come back. It's been the same with our other audits. There used to be a big crunch to get everything they request done while they are with us. Now it's okay to email them the rest. I love that.

Meanwhile I feel like I haven't done diddly on my "real work" this week, so that's stressful. It's stressful watching the unanswered email pile up.

There's other work stuff going on but I'll spare you the details. Everyone is overworked and stressed - it's not just me.

But today is Friday. It's breakfast day at work. I'm working with another woman on repotting several of the lobby plants this morning. Our company is celebrating it's 35th anniversary this year and we're having a big open house, boot camp and family picnic later this month. So we thought we'd pitch in and help the building dude by sprucing up some of the plants with new pots and soil.

Massage. Crafting. Maybe pizza for dinner - maybe out for dinner, if Steve feels so inclined.

That's a good day.

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