ACK! The water stopped running in my areogarden. The booklet says if the light is on, then the water should be running. I checked the arm and the bowl per the booklet. Troubleshooting #3 says the pump may be broken. yikes. So I emailed the customer service.

I wonder what I should do in the meantime...? Will my plants be okay?

Here's today's photo:



And here is the chamber where water should be running...

The present from Katey turned out to be a cute little book called The 60 Second Procrastinator by Jeff Davidson.

It's filled with bites of wisdom to bash the inner procrastinator. I LOVE IT! Thank you, Katey! http://www.women-ink.com/about.htm

Did I tell you guys about my library trip... once I checked out a book called "How to Stop Procrastinating." I returned it three weeks late, unread. blech. So then I checked out a book called "Think and Grow Rich" and ended up spilling hot tea on it at Starbucks and having to buy the book. sooo... I think I grew $15 poorer.

LOL! Such is life. And no wonder I need Katey to spur me along. She's a great cheerleader as I run along in fits and spurts trying to push my creativity onto the paper to grow an idea into a book.

Speaking of growing...lookie at my plants:



They are really bushing out, huh?

I'm starting an Artist Way circle. At least I'm hoping too. I've been a long time Artist's Way follower and have been to several workshops and retreats to hear Julia Cameron.

Here's the scoop for any other Houstonians out there if they want to join us: http://artistsway.meetup.com/184/?gj=sj6

The Dollar Tree Christmas by James and Jessica Trapp

On the first day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.


On the second day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the third day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
8 Cows for Milking
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
9 Ladies Spongies
8 Cows for Milking
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
10 Boards a-Heaping
9 Ladies Spongies
8 Cows for Milking
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
11 Lighters Lighting
10 Boards a-Heaping
9 Ladies Spongies
8 Cows for Milking
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
12 Shoppers Slumming
11 Lighters Lighting
10 Boards a-Heaping
9 Ladies Spongies
8 Cows for Milking
7 Dawns a-Soaping
6 Sprayers Spraying
5 Plastic Blings
4 Falling Pans
3 Big Bins
2 Purple Gloves
and an Air Freshener from The Dollar Tree.



Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas from Trapp Manor!

Lookie what I got in the mail:

A BIRTHDAY PRESENT from my coach KATEY!

http://theauthorscoach.ninelivescoaching.com

Oh, this is killing me. I wanna open it! I wanna! I wanna!!

My son tells me I should wait until Friday. But should I? It's from Powells. Definitely a book. Ooooooooooooooh, I lOVE books.

*breathing breathing* I know... I'll go take a picture of my tomatoes to distract myself:



Ah, better.

Can you see all those black spots on the white? Those are gnats. Dead gnats. Yuck. I just cleaned them off 15 minutes ago and here they are back again. I guess that's the reason Sur la Table was only selling the models in black. I don't understand where they are coming from. My kitchen isn't dirty.

I've been researching all day. Whew! I think I'm making progress though. I didn't make it to the museum as I had hoped, but I did go to the local library and plan to update the first 100 pages of the wip as much as I can before I get to bed. I'm learning all sorts of cool things about how the people made medieval paint.

Now if I could just find somebody to show me how to put smilies in my blog. LOL!

I've been doing research and cleanup on my manuscript all day. It's frustrating to spend so much time learning little details about medieval life, yet fascinating at the same time. I've been wanting to snatch myself baldheaded on medieval painting techniques and supplies and then I found this website: http://rourkevisualart.com/

TONS of great information there! And David seems really nice too.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the Museum of Fine Arts and hopefully can find someone to help me with a lot of my questions about paints and painting.

Here's today's tomatoes:



And the pamplet said it was time to prune them--so here they are post pruning.



They look a little nekkid, don't they?

Oh, rah, rah, rah. More freakin' computer stuff. My new camera hosed up already--I returned it. The new one has an issue too. I can't figure out how to sign into one of my accounts because it tells me my email isn't recognizable. It's like everything just takes 3 to 5 times as long as you think it should with a computer. Some days I think my novels would get written faster if I wrote them on roles of toilet paper. Some critics would probably like them better that way too, so it would be double duty, ykwim?

Anyway... that's not why I came here to blog. I came here with a grateful heart (which was slammed by not being able to get into my account at first) for my friend Mel in Australia who is on a yahoo loop with me. She sent my son two 20 shilling coins that feature the platypus. He had a big report to do for school. Here is a photo with the Platypus he drew and all the pictures he cut out. He worked SO hard on all of it. (Insert proud mom smile here.)



So... the coins came today and The Jamester was THRILLED. He was literally glowing he was so excited. Worked out very well because I was able to take the coins to school during their class Christmas party. All the kids thought he was majorly cool for receiving mail from down under. They took turns passing them around, all very keyed up about it and his teacher was, like, "WHOA! That is AWESOME!" (I LOVE her! He's been blessed with great teachers.)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Mel!!!! You made my son's day. You made his report special. He's so jazzed about the whole deal, he started planning his fourth grade animal report. He kept the coins close all day and fell asleep holding them. It really meant a lot.

I have so much to say on here that I feel a little overwhelmed with where to start. Geez... I warned everyone that I was sucky at keeping up with daily postings, I'm blaming this on my camera. I was going to post daily pictures of my new tomato plants and when the camera messed up, I got discouraged about the whole mess.

Anyway, here's today's plants:



Can you believe how much they have grown! WOW!

Other news: Friday is my 37th birthday. Woo woo! I guess that explains the chin hair, but when does the acne go away again? Anyone? Anyone?

I talked to a lady the other day about bioidentical hormones.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeell...Remember that old joke about the man and woman who go to the doctor because he's in bad shape. The doc pulls the lady aside and tells her that it's all up to her. If she'll get up every morning, give her husband a good massage, cook him a five course meal three times a day, cater to his every whim and need then he'll get over his illness. If she doesn't, then he'll die by the end of the year.

When she goes back to the waiting room, he's on pins and needles. He asks, "What did the doctor say?"

And she answers, "He said you're gonna die."

Ba Dum.

So... I talked to this lady about these biohormones.

And she told me I was definitely not going to get any better.

Well, not exactly... actually, she decides (for all practical purposes) to diagnose me over the phone (oh, you definitely have XYZ), tells me that blood tests, etc aren't accurate then wants me to set up a five hour exam that cost thousands and thousands of dollars that include a menagerie of blood tests (uuuuuh... I thought you just said they weren't accurate...) that my insurance doesn't cover.

Anyway, the whole used car salesmen thingy started ringing in my ears. And, guess what... this body I've been dragging around for 37 years isn't getting any younger. So whatever. I'd just like to see my skin clear up.

Anyhow, after the sticker shock on the price, I decided that whole laser thing was cheap and I could definitely tolerate the pain. If I had thousands of dollars just laying around I'd be on a fast plane to the Caribbean. Or England. Or Australia.

'nuff for today.
jes

Busy, busy week. Haven't been on line much. I've gotten a lot done on my wip which feels good and today I (ta da!) organized my office. I'm a mess with paperwork. Need a secretary.

To reward myself, I went SHOE SHOPPING. My plan was to buy a pair of practical brown boots for winter. But then I sat down next to a lady named Chris, who talked me into buying some magical summer black patent wedges with leopard print. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, they are adorable. I was going to take a photo but all my camera's are messed up at the moment. (Grrr!)

I got boots too, but I think I'm going to return them--decided they really didn't look that great.

I just started watching The Dog Whisperer. I'm hooked. And Jack is too funny. Mostly he ignores whatever is on, but as soon as The Dog Whisperer comes on, he sits up, very alert and watches intently. It's hilarious.

Off to bed.