Not a bad way to spend the morning

Some of you know that I work Saturdays and odd hours and holidays and all that fun stuff.

It could be better, but it could be worse. Right now I have Sundays and Mondays off work.

At my last job I had Fridays and Saturdays off. Better.

When I first started this job I had Mondays and Tuesdays off. Worse.

But I generally like my job as an editor/page designer. I find it interesting.

I like that while the job itself may stay pretty much the same, the content does not. It helps keep the job fresh.

I also like that I do not have an inbox. Nothing piles up in my desk. When I leave work at the end of the day, I know my job is finished and I get to come in and start fresh the next day.

The series of deadlines also works well for me. Give me two weeks to finish a project and I am likely to wait until Day 12 to start on it. It will be done right, but I will procrastinate.

Give me a series of deadlines to meet throughout the shift and I will pretty much beat every one of them.

It's kind of like a sprint rather than a marathon. And since I tend to be competitive, it's a great fit for me.

Typically I work from noon to about 8 p.m. Not bad hours compared to the 3 to 11 p.m. I used to work.

It still gives me plenty of time in the morning to wake up around 8:30 or 9, make tea, have some toast and check in on the news.

It also usually gives me time to get a chore done at home or to run an errand before work.

Then, when I leave work, I can come home and have dinner. Sure it is about 9 p.m. by the time I eat dinner. But I am almost always up until at least 1 anyway.

So what have I done with my morning so far:

tea

English muffin

news

watched a show I had recorded

cleaned up after cats

a load of towels

painted my toenails

blogged

Not bad at all considering it isn't even 11 yet.

Now I am off to get ready for work. I need to hurry though.

I still have to stop on the way to get gas and buy groceries for tonight's dinner.

Enjoy the weekend all!

(picture is from a trip to Yosemite a few years ago)

Something for Sona

Sona over at Sona Says has a thing for lighthouses.

But can you blame her? What other thing that is so practical has such a whimsy and romance about it?

This photo was from my trip to Savannah for the SND conference a few years ago.

I took a day trip out to Tybee Island, Ga., and found the Tybee Island Light Station.

And yes, I climbed all those stairs to the top.

How could I not? It was a beautiful, clear and windy day. It was perfect.

Pretend sometimes

So I went to the stamp convention Sunday in Carson.

According to my friends, this used to be much bigger, but it still seemed like a lot of vendors to me.

I ended up buying a few things. Surprise, surprise.

But I did try to keep that in check. Mainly I wanted to look at the ideas there. And I wanted to find something that would make me try something new.

So that new thing is going to be watercoloring and using pastels. I don't do too much of that now and it seems a bit labor intensive for making a lot of cards. So I probably wouldn't use it for Christmas cards, but maybe for swaps of 10 or fewer or for cards I make specifically to give to someone.

Anyway... here are some photos of a few of the things I bought:

I have no idea what I am going to do with this one. I don't usually work with stamps of this style. The samples I have seen tend to be very detailed and embellished and, well, somewhat over the top for me.

But I like the little guy with his funny wings.

And I like that the sentiment is "Pretend sometimes."

The stamp is from Stampers Anonymous.

I got all these at a booth called Savvy Stamps.

The dot background stamps will be pretty good for many occasions and types of cards. The poinsettias were just pretty and they had some nice examples of how to use them.

They had a ton of stamps, all on the small side, which I like. I could have spent a fortune there, so I made sure to set a limit for myself.

They have a decent gallery area on their Web site.

This cute little Christmas stamp is from Memory Box.

It is about 2 inches tall by 1 inch at the widest point of the image.

I walked by this display a couple times and didn't see this stamp until I went back to show a friend something else they had.

But once I saw it, I wanted it.

I did get a couple other things that don't photograph so well. Things like unmounted rubber stamps and acrylic stamps.

Overall I had fun. They have this show a few times a year with varying numbers of vendors. I think once a year would be about enough for me.

Now I just need to find the time to play with all my new toys.