at the chime of a city clock.

i opened a new post and sat there.  wondering what to say or even sometimes how much to say. 
  not that i really have a lot to say...besides the clouds are gray and dreary.  and i'm worried about sitting in an airport all day on sunday. 
as i fly off to the north.  or as i call it - the great white north.  even though they say it's still below the mason-dixon line and southern living often posts little articles about it.
and i thumbed through pictures though i haven't taken a lot lately and the ones i liked, i've already shared. 
and i took a picture of my breakfast as i read through a new-to-me book of prayers.  i picked it up because it had the word "mockingbird" in the title and a cute little drawing of a mockingbird on the cover.  but the prayers drew me in and though i don't really talk about religion much, i felt a kinship with them as they seemed to be simple talk from a person that is struggling every day to be a good person.  and i liked that.  as i read, i thought me too.
and i have a lot of thoughts lately of being quick to judge - judgy mcjudgerson - sometimes that's me - sometimes that is the feeling i have of other people.  and as i've written before we all do these things and perhaps some of you struggle with that too.  it's heavy on my mind today.  a message from the universe i think since i'm struggling...too often i find when especially confronted by an issue that it's a lesson that i need to learn for myself. 
  being a socialized introvert i'm struggling too with the sudden urge to curl into myself and hibernate.  not unlike phil who saw his shadow and decided to take a few weeks more.  in doing this, i turned my calendar and reminded myself - it is only six weeks until spring.  that means in a few weeks that japanese magnolias will begin to bloom and daffodils will peek and give the all clear for other flowers to follow.  the grass will come forth underneath this dull brown carpet.  so, i firmly put my feet forward instead of the curled position. 
  it's friday and i'm tired and though i shouldn't complain after a ten month vacation, it's been a roller coaster this week.  but i have a sense of accomplishment too that we had a good kick-off to our project. 

i leave you with a small list of things that are good today

- a job well done and a completed task list

- the bowl of grits, eggs and cheese i had for breakfast

- a blue dish of creamy chocolates

- listening to nick drake while i'm typing

- ginger mandarin hand lotion

- ribbon bookmarkers in my books

- vintage prayer books

 

totally cheesing out with my mosaic this week

my contribution for mosaic monday. sadly, i've not gone out and made any shots besides the random around the house shots in a week. clearly not following the best advice i give any beginning photographer (which is shoot every day). after the panic last week of thinking my camera was stolen, i haven't had the time.

saturday i took an exam for insurance examiner - it was hard. i am a decent test taker and it took almost the complete three hours saturday. now, i hope i did okay with it. and no, it wasn't one of those, oh i think i did bad so i really did great kind of feelings - it was i really hope i did good. sunday was filled with household chores and checking on the basement cat. poor thing, he doesn't get enough attention so i made sure he was healthy and happy yesterday.

have you ever woken up on morning and hated everything that you've worked on in the previous week? i've been working on an in-service that just wasn't flowing right for me (HIPAA and the impact of ARRA - see, you're bored, right?) i think i've put my finger on the reason and after it's reviewed by the client this week, we can re-approach it and break it into two parts. the material is not the snappiest in the world anyway, no need to put the audience completely in sandman town.

so, hopefully shots and my challenge shot for LUT too. dani laid down a big gauntlet last night and i really want to stretch with this one. despite being so verbose around here...i'm really sort of shy about approaching new people so it will definitely be a giant leap.

and look at this way - i've spared you all the shots of my spider-bitten finger. about six weeks ago the tip of my left index finger was swollen and i thought i had an ingrown nail or infected cuticle. after a couple of days it got better and i didn't think of it again...until my nail started growing in all weird and bumpy. turns out, it was a spider bite (thank goodness it wasn't a brown recluse). now i have a bumpy nail growing in under my other nail and i'm having to gradually file off my other nail. ick, ick, ick. and thing is, i'm pretty friendly with my spider pals because i know they eat other insects. now, i'm not so sure they're so friendly - like charlotte.

and...i forgot the fun thing today - (other) char challenged me to draw my outfit today (my kinda selfie) and this is what happened. it wasn't pretty....believe me.

...

my brain is fried and i find myself repeating things a lot lately. could be the onset of older age or the stress of living but it is worrisome. it's harder to keep up with the things that girls keep up with (i'll spare you the details guys).

errands to be run. things to be done. the sun is playing peek-a-boo with my eyes. the energy wanes and i feel as though a marathon has been run using only my lower back. still we push on and on, even when our spirits lag. it must be done...it must.