A year since my last post. I believe it - with all the other things going on and with a certain other social media sucking us in at every turn, well, I just have not come back here in a while! It is time to revisit at the start of a new year. Things I want to do today, while the one kiddo who lives at home is not yet back from a sleepover and the college kid who is home for the holidays is still visiting her grandmother: an update, and a gotta-get-er-done list for today. Update: I am still me, living in Canada, still striving to flex my creative wings (just did my 6th craft show, that was fun) and to keep my Etsy shop fresh, while undercover during the day as the managing editor of a weekly newspaper (that has its fun days, too!). The youngest is a freshman in high school. The middle girl is a young mother of a six-month-old adorable baby boy, making me a grandma, and engaged to a young man with a good heart. The oldest is in art college. The hubs works for the phone company, and we also have three furry friends that live in our house: two cats and a little black half-chihuahua, half-black lab. ... teeny background: Shiny the dog had been treated as a puppy-mill, on her fourth litter at age 6 when her owners abandoned her. After the puppies all went to good homes, a local shelter needed a forever family for her and I said hey, I'm an old

gal too and this old house has lots of room, send her over. :) I am also still living with some sort of absences and occasional dizziness that may be actual "absence" (say it like it's French) as in the kind of epilepsy that used to be called petit mal seizures, and now they call it "absence" (practicing your French yet?). Have been medicated for it with carbamazapine for a few years now, which makes the worst of it better so that I can drive. It's a day-to-day thing. Life goes on. :) So that's about it. To do today: -revisit old blogs I love -visit a couple of new ones I read about recently, including those geared toward thrifty living -freshen up my Etsy shop with a few new items today -take down the Christmas tree and put away decorations -and rest. Wishing anyone who stumbles onto this blog (it used to be quite busy! working on getting there again) a very peaceful and happy New Year for 2013. hugs all around, especially to those bloggers I used to visit far more often, T