Good Morning StarBright

5:30 am - Alarm goes off. Up and about we begin getting the family ready for their drive home to Indianapolis and St. Louis. Hmmm, you think maybe I could go back and take a nap. Nope, once awake and up, yup, I stay up and have a cup of coffee.

Just want to say one thing about the video with Aaron that was posted yesterday. When Aaron comes to his Auntie M's place he gets bear hugs. Yes, he has Asperger's Syndrome and he tolerates my bear hugs. In the video you will notice that I come up behind him and put my hand on this shoulder. He handled that so well because he was in the "moment" acting and it was not real. Aaron has just moved into an apartment on his own and travels throughout Missouri giving presentations on "Living with Asperger's Syndrome."

Finding Kansas will be released again in April 2012, and I love this quote by Dr. Keith Schaefer, Director, Missouri Department of Mental Health, "Aaron Likens may be the most courageous, intelligent and tenacious young man I have met in my long tenure in the mental health field. Being profoundly touched by Asperger's Syndrome, he is fiercely determined to better understand himself and the world around him."

Yes, I am very proud of my Aaron. OK, now back to .... Thanksgiving is still up and won't be "taken down" for at least a week. Yes, the same oh same oh - am I gonna pull out the Christmas decorations from under the stairs this year? I can honestly say I don't know... Maybe not this year since I really do want to get this place cleaned out of its clutter and the clutter given away to let others enjoy it. Remember the closet,

Doesn't look that way right now. Right before family showed up last Tuesday, I had to start hauling the leftover stuff into it but I also now plan to pull each item out and deal with it now. Time ran out and thanks to all of you sending me your comments on FaceBook and here on this Blog, I feel OK with it and not overwhelmed! Progress not Perfection as they say.

Right now it is 11:00am and we have had a shower, cleaned the kitchen, and am now on laundry load # 2. On a roll, on a roll and hopefully will keep rolling on today.....

While my brother was here, he did work for his food.  Got me a new fantastic kitchen faucet, (looks like we can play beauty shop with that sprayer - oh yeah),

Got the laundry sliding door fixed along with a new light switch.....I am now starting to make a list for next year. Don't want to forget why I started this blog.... so onto some art work for you... been a while and these items were created years ago.... First of all is a Thanksgiving clock I made in order to submit to Somerset Holidays (and no it was not selected which has nothing to do with anything...),

And then a "place card" using a Martha Steward "gobble gobble gobble"... She (the stamp not Martha) is one of my favorite stamps which I used a lot in years past .....

And again for this Thanksgiving, the Christmas Cactus did not disappoint.....

Have a great day.... I am still hanging out in my "Fight Like A Girl" lounging pants while keeping the cleaning going for a few more hours and then it is into the recliner with mindless TV going on, my kind of day!

And one more thing about my new iPhone.... I have discovered iSpeak, man oh man, words I think I am typing are not the words I am typing. For example, left a post on FaceBook for my niece which was suppose to say, "What a joy it was to spend Thanksgiving with my precious niece. . ." It came out in iSpeak as, "What a joy it was to spend Thanksgiving with my previous niece. . ." to which she responded, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated - Mark Twain" As to why I am not turning the auto-correct off? - it is way to convenient .... even with words getting all mussed up.... Hey, I don't have to blame me for my senility - just the iPhone.... Have I told you how much i love my iPhone lately - yes it is a little senile....