And it felt good.

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I really hate feeling like I'm behind. Behind in my household chores, behind in my bills, behind in my work. And I really hate feeling like I'm behind in making jewelry. Christmas is coming up and I.am.behind.

Not only am I behind in making jewelry for my shop, but I am behind in shopping as well. I do all of my Christmas shopping online. I have done it that way for the last few years at least, and I love it. Just can't go for all the crowds during the holidays, all the hustle and bustle does not feel like fun to me. You see people who never come out of their homes until it's time to shop for Christmas, and with good reason. Those same people generally drive, and you really wish they wouldn't.

Anyway, it's already the middle of November and I have not started my shopping yet. I am usually begging my kids for ideas because by this time of the year I have run out of ideas and need some help. But today I received a Christmas list from my daughter, saying she was sure she was too late, that I was probably done shopping by now. Nope. I'm behind. Argh-h-h!

So, getting into the bead room this evening and making some actual progress in the jewelry area feels really good. I made a few bracelets and a few pairs of earrings and will try to get them photographed and listed some time this weekend.

I paid my bills last night, made some jewelry tonight, and tomorrow - I start my holiday shopping.

In the meantime, chandelier earrings abound and here are a few pictures. Not the photos I will list with, but a few snaps to get the idea. So maybe I'm not behind in everything anymore. :)

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Did you ever ... ?

Did you ever work with someone whose day revolves around lunch? Before lunch they are so hungry you think they are going to faint from lack of nourishment. They make a big deal about taking their lunch out and getting it ready, micro-waving it and sitting down to eat it. When they do eat, you hear “nummy” noises coming from them the whole time. And when there is free food? You’d think it was Christmas and Thanksgiving and their birthday all rolled into one.

Sigh-h-h. And this person? Aren’t they always the skinniest person in the place? Because you know darn well that if it was anybody *cough cough* full figured like me making all that noise, people would think I was a real pig.

Does it annoy you to no end? Yeah, me too.

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How angry am I? Not so much.

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So, my daughter went a wanderin’. The question I asked was – am I angry with her? Truth? I can’t be. Not for trespassing on university property to poke around an old village and hotel with no intentions of doing any harm to the place. Even though it was against the law.

I know I need to teach my children the difference between right and wrong but let’s face it. Dani is 21. If she hasn’t learned that lesson by now, I won’t be the one teaching her, life will be.

When I think of all the things I did when I was her age and younger, well, my kids will never hear most of it so neither will you! Suffice it to say that I am glad my kids are not like I was. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I wasn’t the best either. And the time in my life when I lived in a college town with my husband was a time of ‘messing around’ - and not getting caught.

Sigh-h. I know I’m supposed to be mad. When I talked to Dani on the phone at the end of the conversation I worked up my stern voice and said “consider yourself reprimanded! Do not trespass again!” And then I laughed. It was the best I could do.

The child gets all A’s, she is dangerously intelligent and level headed. She is paying for her own college education; she has arranged all of her own financial aid and loans and goes back to her job when she comes home to earn more money for school. She tossed aside the horrible food habits I raised her with and became a vegetarian who gets excited when they have a good selection of vegetables at the dorm cafeteria. She’s old enough to drink now and if she does – she actually does the designated driver thing.

My daughter is a bit messy and opinionated but she is. a. good. kid.

Before Scout and Jem ever tried to peek in the windows at Boo Radley’s place, kids and people in general have been fascinated by ‘haunted’ and spooky places. It was Halloween. Oh well. If this is the worst that ever happens I will be forever grateful.

Dani will go to court and pay her fine, along with the 16 other people that got tickets doing just what she did that day. Her life will go on, lesson learned.

If there is anything I am angry about it was the lack of full disclosure, the fact that I had to find out about the episode by receiving her summons in the mail. Her boyfriend’s Mom had already received his and was quite upset actually, partly because he wants to be a cop (irony, anyone?) I’m sure. So Dani should have called me, she should have fessed up and warned me. Other than that – I’m not mad.

In this case (I plead the 5^th in other cases) I cannot say – do as I say and not as I do. I have to choose my hypocrisy carefully. Okay, it’s not hypocrisy if I am teaching from lessons learned. But this time – she learned her own lesson just fine.
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And now ...............the rest .......of the story.

Vishnu Springs was a small village and resort located in west central Illinois. There is a small spring located on the property that is thought to have healing powers. So the area was sought after and went through many owners from when it was first developed for use to the present day.

The property was first developed by Darius Hicks in the late 1800’s. Hicks started out with a hotel that had many attractions to it, one of those being indoor plumbing. There were also swings and hammocks, flower gardens, a deer park, horse-powered merry-go-round, a pond filled with goldfish, and many other attractions. The village would eventually surround the resort.

Eventually the town failed though. Hicks committed suicide after the death of his wife. There were many owners after him who tried to get the place up and running. Ownership traded back and forth. Some Western Illinois University students even rented the place in the seventies because of its beauty and tranquility. Today though, Western Illinois University owns the property and will be turning it into a wildlife refuge. What will be come of the hotel which still stands? Who knows what will happen. No one can deny the history that will stay locked away in the memories of ones who have visited.

No Trespassing signs are posted.

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Trespassing at Vishnu Springs

In what's been an ongoing occurrence, people continue to trespass at Vishnu Springs. McDonough County Sheriff Rick VanBrooker says seventeen people were charged last weekend with trespassing. Around 3:30 Saturday afternoon, two cars were found parked outside the gate and blocking the entrance and the road that leads to the former hotel and springs and police ticketed *seven people. Just after 10 o'clock Sunday night police again found two vehicles parked at the entrance. This time they ticketed 10 people. The ages ranged from 18 to 22. There are rumors that the former hotel on the site is haunted and the spring water was rumored to have healing power. People pry off the boards covering the hotel windows and doors to get inside, and the walls inside are spray-painted with graffiti.

* My 21 year old good as gold daughter and friends, on Halloween. How did I find out? Her court summons came in the mail today. Am I thrilled? Not so much. Am I angry with her?

Would you be?

**Added - They did not go inside, it is all boarded up, nor did they vandalise anything. They poked around and explored outside.

We're not normal

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We don’t talk in the morning at my house. At least my son and I don’t. Neither one of us is morning - or day – people really. I am forced by my responsibilities as head of the household, to hold down and keep a day job. Unfortunately that means morning is part of my routine.

My son generally goes to work around 3:00pm-ish, and does not come home till quite late, and it’s not unusual for him to just be laying down to go to sleep when I am getting up in the morning. If we do pass each other in the kitchen or as one of us enters or exits the bathroom, there is no eye contact and oh my God there is certainly no form of communication between us. Just doesn’t happen.

So yesterday morning was quite funny actually. I had slept in a tee shirt and underpants which is kind of unusual, I normally wear some kind of ‘jammie’ shorts or something, but I was tired Wednesday night. Getting up Thursday morning I did what I always do. I headed for the kitchen on autopilot.

I was standing at the counter serving up the morning canned cat food to the varmints that were circling around my legs, again, as usual. I had just bent over to put it down on the floor when Andy came around the corner into the kitchen on his way to the bathroom. In his boxers and a tee shirt. As usual.

The house is very quiet at that time of day, except for the demanding cats impatiently meowing at me while I am getting their food. I am definitely not completely awake at that point on any given day, and this day was no exception. So I can say with total honesty that it is a complete miracle that I did not wet myself and throw ocean whitefish in the air when Andy saw me and did what any 20-something boy does who sees his mother in her underwear. He screamed like he was being blinded! And the face! You would have thought he had just caught a glimpse of Rosemary’s baby!

Too funny. It was almost as bad as the morning he came around the corner and caught me in my jeans and my bra! I laughed so hard I had to cross my legs until he was out of the bathroom and by then I had tears streaming down my face.

His horror was matched only by my amusement. :)

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