I don't know what to title this post . . .

Thanks to all of you that leave such lovely comments and stop by to say "howdy" regularly. I read everything and appreciate hearing from you more than you know. I am sorry I have been out of the loop the last few days and haven't gotten back to any of you.I am slow to visit blogs the last few days and haven't been visiting anyone else much. I'm a little off kilter.

Stress comes in threes I've heard (I hope that's all, hope it's not fours and tens or fifties) I was working very hard to get some new pieces made on the new and more frame-able backgrounds before opening my etsy this week - that's been stressful especially cuz I kept finding more and more things wrong with my work as I took care of one thing, it seemed something else was a problem. The new computer and printer have greatly improved things for me - pictures are printing much, much sharper and I am able to go a bit faster. But, have had the new faster computer slow me down a bit too as I have to move files from the old computer to the new one and lost bookmarks and need to learn the new vista stuff, etc. That's a good most excellent stress, but still stress.

But, I found out the same night that I was celebrating my computer that my dad, who recently had some tests done, has an anuerism on his aorta that needs to be taken care of pronto. He is 79 and lives in Missouri, quite a long ways from me. My mom died many years ago and I have one brother who lives in Las Vegas so I am waiting to hear what the heart doc says today about surgery and may have to jump on a plane (and some of you already know I am very afraid of flying and haven't flown since my mom died in 1996). I should hear from Dad today, so keep good thoughts and say prayers if you can for us.

Well, and to top that off, we also found out Saturday via the news that the Screen Actors Guild is calling for a strike. Some of you know my hubby works in the movie industry and we just got sort of lined out after the writer's strike and now, here we go again, same time as last year, right before the holidays and even worse this year with the yucky economy. We will find a way through, but it won't be easy peasy. It scares me more to think how this strike will absolutely devistate tens of thousands of people - not just in the movie industry but in all of the industries movie people spend money in. For those that are not so close to Hollywood, this is not about making rich actors richer - only about 3% of the SAG members make their living from acting. Well, maybe it is about making a very small number of actors richer and they are so rich they don't even care, I don't know. To me, it is about the 35,000 "below the line" workers that may lose their homes because of a macho fight over a contract that can be renegotiated in 3 years anyway (most movie industry union contracts are negotiated every 3 years). I don't want to start a whole slippery discussion about unions. I know how they are viewed by most of the world, but my man is a union man, one that has worked very hard to create and maintain an honest, fair and reasonable union that has managed to take care of its members AND help the other side of the industry at the same time. Well, I should quit before I dig a deeper hole for myself with any possible SAG members out there or union dislikers. In a nutshell, the strike is very bad news for the economy and lots and lots of people and it is shocking that a call for a strike has been made with such short sightedness and arrogance. Needless to say, a stress on more folks than me.

So, I'll get back in the swing soon. I'm waiting to open the etsy store until I find out what's happening with my dad. There is a chance it will be postponed. I'll keep you posted!