Happy New Year!

Welcome, 2015!  I greet you with open arms, and high expectations.

It is really cold here today! We had a bit of rain, both liquid and frozen, and remarkably, there are still small patches of snow in the shaded areas around town from last weekend. We are supposed to get quite a bit more moisture tomorrow, which is good for the soil and plants, at least as long as it stays above freezing.

We had a few days this week of really feeling great about having a renter lined up for 507, but I got a call yesterday afternoon that said she backed out. At least we are having some showings.  The PM says she has someone interested and will show it tomorrow to a guy with a German Shepherd service dog; the big back yard will be a great thing for him. Here's hoping the deal goes through and he turns out to be another great renter.

Ornery has another four day weekend and we spent today doing a bit of shopping at Hobby Lobby and Whole Foods.  We have been consistent all week with our morning quiet time and every-other-day sauna sessions.  Now if I can get the rest of my routine to become habit, I will be doing great! :)  I'm almost caught back up on my correspondence, which seems to come in clumps instead of a slow, steady stream like I would wish for it to. Since I didn't send out Christmas cards or letters this year, I am replying to each one individually.  Now, in the years I send out cards, we hardly receive any, but this year we had at least 25, so letters in reply are turning out to be more time consuming than if I had gone ahead and written a form letter! Oh, well.  :)

I find it fun to communicate with people from all over the world.  I have pen pals in England, Norway, the Netherlands, Greece and several of the states. Some are just short note writers, others have truly formed a connection with me, and I love reading and replying to their letters. Some of them swap art as well as the written word, and those are extra fun!  In addition to the pen-friends, I have art friends with whom I swap artist trading cards, mail art, washi tape, and art journal pages.  They are also from all over the world; Scotland, Philippines, Australia, England and the US.

I have decided (for now, at least) to not take any new pen pals or swaps for awhile.  As some of these drop off (which they inevitably do) I may reconsider, but it is pretty time consuming to keep up with so many, and I end up not doing a lot of other things. Like blogging! :) I wonder how many people resolved to post more in 2015. I can count myself among them!