(I typed this before it was midnight, so technically it was still Wednesday. The “next” day doesn’t really begin for me until I have gone to bed and gotten up again, no matter what time the clock says.)
I don’t plan on getting dressed tomorrow. At All. The mall is closed and we can’t do our family dinner until Saturday. So my plans include reading library books and waiting for my Hurricane to appear. With goodies. Here is the phone picture I received today. 
With this note: I made cupcakes. This is leftover frosting that I’ll be boxing up and bringing tomorrow. 
Have I mentioned lately how much I adore my children?! Well, I do, and it fits nicely into the things I’ve been thinking about for tonight’s post. I truly do adore these people I gave birth to. Even if I had just met them, I’d like them, they are fabulous folks. Very kind, amazingly open-minded, extremely generous, quite lovely, and a wee bit sarcastic/judgey. All characteristics I enjoy.
I’ve been debating about drawing from our Special Occasion deck for tomorrow. It’s not one of my favorite holidays (there isn’t a favorite, I simply tolerate them all equally in a mediocre state of mind). Partly it’s about the fact that this day revolves around food, and … well ya know, I have issues there. And there’s also the aspect that it’s family centered. I am already greatly blessed when it comes to family (both types, blood links and chosen). They are close by, I can see them any time. The ones that are gone, I can talk to still. The far away ones I can text or e-mail, staying in touch as we choose.
There is also the gratitude factor. I say “thank you” every single day. I acknowledge the gifts I have been given on a regular basis. It doesn’t feel as though I need one marked calendar day to appreciate all of this. Still undecided about tomorrow’s draw. You’ll know how I was guided when you show up again.
In shopping news, I found out today that the coupon code I was going to share with you won’t go into effect until the first of January. But I’ll still put it up. Watch the Job notes.
As far as crafting goes, Glynis is going to get the ugly subversive cross stitch, because she spoke up first. Maybe with some of my down time tomorrow I can find another alphabet and re-graph it. The thing about me and this crap is, I’m skilled but I ain’t real creative. (Remember how I am also Taste Blind?) Daniel has to help me pick colors if they aren’t already selected. I know when I hate something, I just can’t figure out how to make it look like I’m gonna love it.
Here is what my wallet looks like right now (it’s a special order thing that has an opening for personalization). 
This was a chart I adjusted (poorly) to make fit. It was stitched on black needlepoint canvas, and it has worked fine. But I wanted to do something a bit more…. well subversive. So I went with one of the patterns from the book, and I used some bits and pieces of shit I had around the burrow, but I’m not happy with how it turned out. Here’s the new one. Bleh.
I didn’t have all the colors the designer called for, and I didn’t have any black canvas, so I tried to make the background look black. But it’s bad. And I don’t think I will put it on/in the wallet. (Does anyone what this one?)
Here is the conversation Dan and I had this afternoon.
(An explanation first about my cousin and his name. When we were children we called him Danny, just as my husband’s family did with him. I never knew my husband as “Danny” so it was easy for me NOT to call him that. I DID know my cousin as “Danny” so when we got to be adults, I had a difficult time NOT calling him that. Then he stayed with us for a bit, when J.D. was an only child and around two or so. My son called him “Cousin Dan Dan” so that’s how we have refered to him ever since.)
My Husband: Today is Cousin Dan Dan’s birthday.
Me: No it’s not!
MH: Well he thinks it is. He might know when his birthday is better than you.
Me: Are you sure?
MH: Fairly certain, yes. He says on his FaceBook page that he has survived to celebrate his 47th year.
Me: Shit.
MH: Why does this matter? Because you were wrong?
Me: NO! Because I already told him happy birthday on the blog. Last month.
So, Cousin Dan Dan, if you are reading right now. I apologize for thinking your birthday was a month ago. And wishing Happy Belated in October. As it turns out. I was early.
Our card today is from The Animal Medicine Cards. And I was very happy when I saw it earlier. I worship these particular animals, for their strength and their beauty, and simply for their elegance. Their songs are eery, while at the same time, touchingly wonderful, the sounds they make reach out and grab me every time I hear them. They are just so huge and gentle and smart and stunning. (And as I read the definition the authours provide I can see how I would be drawn to their spirit as well.) 
“Whale ~ Record Keeper.
Whale is very much like a swimming library. Whale carries the history of Mother Earth and is said to have been placed here by the Ancients from the Dog Star, Sirius.
Biologists say that Whale is a mammal, and very probably lived on land millions of years ago. In tribal legend, Whale’s move into the ocean happened when the Earth shifted and Lemuria, the Motherland, went below the waters.
Whale medicine people are coded in their DNA to understand that sound frequencies can bring up records in the memories of ancient knowledge. They are usually clairaudient, and able to hear both very low and very high frequencies. They are also psychically developed and telepathic. Many times however, they are not awakened to their gifts until it is time to use the stored records. Many Whale medicine people are able to tap into the universal mind of Great Spirit, and have no idea how or why they know what they know. Only later, when they receive confirmation, do they begin to understand how they know or why they received the impressions and messages.
Whale medicine teaches us to use the sounds and frequencies that balance our emotional bodies and heal our physical forms. To recall why the shaman’s drum brings healing and peace is to align with Whale’s message. The drum is the universal heartbeat and aligns all beings heart to heart.
You are asked now to tap into those timeless records and to allow yourself to be sung to by those who have the original language. We are the only creatures who do not have our own unique cry or call. Find yours. Allow your voice to use the sound to release tension or emotion. Whale signals a time of finding your origins, or seeing your overall destiny as coded in your DNA, and of finding the sounds that will release those records. You may never be the same again. After all, you are the melody of the Universe, and the harmony is the song of the other creatures. In using your voice to open your memory, you are expressing your uniqueness and your personal sound. As you open to this individuality, the animals of your totems may then send their sounds or calls to you or through you. This will open your personal records so that you may further explore your soul’s history and commune with Whale, who carries the history of us All.”
