Smile!

Hello!  Today we were 'blessed' with seven inches of snow and the majority of it fell right when I would need to drive to work, so I was unable to get to work today.  Since I now had an extra day off this week, I decided to finally get in my craft room and 'create something'.

It was my birthday a few months ago and I had received a couple of hand made cards.  Sometimes I re- use hand made cards exactly as I receive them, and sometimes I 'repurpose' them.  The card below was one I 'repurposed'.  The pretty flowered embossed white background, the ribbon,  and the blue card base is all that remains of the original card.  I took everything else off and added a doily and three stickers.  The card literally took minutes to make, and I love the fact that I recycled something for someone else to enjoy instead of just throwing it the trash heap.

 The butterfly sticker is from K & Co and the sentiment sticker is from DCWV.  The branch is a felt sticker.  It's a very pretty card in real life because it has a lot of shimmer, texture, and dimension.

 My card is especially appropriate today because 'Smiling' is all I can do in light of our personal circumstances.  Because I'm in in retail and also the interior decorator of my church, Christmas is an especially stressful and difficult time of the year for me.  So to help ease the stress, my husband suggested that in lieu of decorating the house and buying tons of presents, that we just take a family trip to Florida instead.  We were all thrilled with that idea, so we went and had a wonderful time.  HOWEVER,  while we were gone our home state experienced the coldest temperatures they ever had in the past 18 years.  Even though we turned off the water, drained the pipes, and left the heat on, the heat shut off and the house froze while we away.  SMILE!  Every pipe in the house was frozen when we got home.  Thankfully, no pipes burst, but I lost all my houseplants.  The house was only 32 degrees when we arrived home nine days later.  SMILE!  We had a bird and a pond fish inside the house, and  the fish tank was almost completely frozen solid.  Somehow, both the bird and fish survived and are doing well now,  but it's been over a week since we got back, and were still 'cleaning up' and one toilet is still not fixed. SMILE!   Lesson learned:  Never,  ever, ever, take a vacation in the middle of the winter if you live in Wisconsin.

Every single bottle of liquid was frozen in our house:  all our food, mouthwash, bottled water/juices were frozen solid.  Even the food IN the refrigerator froze and a lot had to be thrown away.  SMILE!  It took about three days to get the house warm again.  We wore winter coats, scarves, and gloves INSIDE the house, and slept in front of the wood stove.  I've never been so cold in my life.  It was horrible.  SMILE!   Don't believe me?  Here is a side view of our fish tank:

 At first, we thought the fish was dead because he appeared to be frozen in the block of ice.  But then we saw his fin move a little and screamed 'He's Alive!  He's Alive!'. SMILE!   So we put a space heater near the tank and kept it on till the ice gradually melted (which took about three days).

 This is the top of the 20 gallon tank.  I can't believe it got that cold INSIDE the house to cause this much ice to form.  SMILE.

So far this winter has been one of the worst I can ever remember.  It has been constant snow and record low temperatures ever since the month of November.  SMILE!  If I ever hear Al Gore say one more thing about global warming, I swear I will go mad!  Global warming!  BRING IT ON!  It will be a welcome relief to anyone who lives in Wisconsin.

SMILE!  and have a good day!  Amy