Lost

This week we've come full circle at Inspiration Avenue,

from sun kissed to

Icy

The theme is courtesy of Lisa of The Write Stuff.

I enjoyed thinking cool thoughts even though 

I'm not quite longing for winter. Not yet.

Autumn, maybe. . .

I'm hoping to get this posted in time for

Paint Party Friday also.

It IS still Friday here, although just barely.
Go there and check out all the wonderful art bloggers
that have left a link for this week.

I don't have a story for this painting.

I don't know why the poor little fairy

has found herself lost and alone in a snowstorm.

Freezing cold without her coat.

At least she hasn't forgotten her mittens 

like those naughty kittens.

If she speaks to you and tells you why she's

trudging through the snow, would you let me know?

You may be stuck in a heat wave like so much of 

the Northern Hemisphere. If you are,

 go see all of the ICY entries at Inspiration Avenue.
Guaranteed to be refreshing!

 The Bad News, then the Good News

 And a mini-survey at the end!

I have not posted in a while ~ I have been distracted by a strange phenomenon in our house that is making me crazy!  Ever since the first foot of snow fell a little over a week ago, there has been an odor in the house that I can only describe as what you would smell if you stuck your face right behind an idling automobile. Only much fainter, since I am the only one who can smell this.  Oh, the frustration of having a top-notch sense of smell!

The furnace guy came on Saturday and told me there is nothing wrong with the furnace and charged me $117. Thank you very much. My hubby, bless his heart, came home yesterday with a $22 furnace filter, thinking the bargain filters we have been using were not doing the job. No change. My son thinks it is all in my head. I guess I must not have taught him how to be sympathetic. Too late now, he'll be 20 years old in 4 days.

I have tried turning off the furnace for most of the day (not recommended). I have tried turning UP the thermostat to blast it out of the house (ridiculous, not recommended either) So far I have not hit on the solution, or the problem for that matter. Our latest thinking is that some of that 2+ feet of snow is clogging the chimney through which the hot water heater vents (the furnace vents out the side of the house thank goodness). If you have seen our roof, which of course you haven't, I'll look for a picture, you would agree that going up there now is out of the question. So my next plan of attack is to wait for a sunny day with the temp above freezing, to melt some of that snow.

I just found a pic (and now I am really longing for warmer, sunnier days). Wish I had a snowy one, but you get the idea of climbing 3 stories onto one of the steepest roofs (rooves?) in the neighborhood to look at the chimney. Not going to happen.

Wow, I just realized I have rambled for 4 paragraphs explaining why I have not posted recently. You can see I am a little obsessed with this smelly problem.

If you are still with me, I will now get to the    GOOD NEWS. Ahem.

I have been the incredibly lucky winner of  Plumrose Lane's One World One Heart giveaway! She has created a blog background and all the accessories with the "magic carpet" theme, and it is gorgeous and all mine!

The rich blue-purple colors give it a sense of mystery and magic. And I love the banner with all the sparkly fairy dust behind the magic carpet!

 

Isn't it gorgeous? 

Now I must decide if I want to use it on this blog or start a second blog (terrifying, but I've already been thinking about it).  

Those of you who have more than one blog: Is it difficult to keep up with multiple blogs? What was your reason for starting more than one blog? Any other thoughts on having multiple blogs? I'd be eternally grateful for comments on this. 

Thanks, and hope your day is fantastically creative!

Just for Today, 

Who Cares if it's Still Winter

We woke up to an amazing sight this morning.
It's so pretty I had to post some pictures.

View from the front porch at dawn.
The light on the planter boxes is either from the flash or the porch light, or maybe both.

Still not light yet.

The apple tree weighted with snow.

Another pic from the front porch.

The sun has come out and it's blinding!
This pic doesn't show how bright it really is.
Gotta wear your sunglasses to go out now!

Things have come to a stop in our area, since this is supposedly the third biggest snow storm for us since they started recording storms! I say, that's great ~ if we have to have a winter storm, let's do it right!