If I am honest, I am very stressed. Beyond the usual stresses of my sickness these days, I am also stressed about my reading. And that is a silly thing reading is supposed to be enjoyable. I fell behind schedule again because I have been working more on my pen pal letters and trying to catch up with those. I had to take a step back today and remind myself that even though I am doing many reading challenges this year that reading should be enjoyable and if I do not complete the challenges that is OKAY. They are challenges not life or death.

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

My question for the Sanctuary today will be simple. What are your plans for Super bowl Sunday?

I plan to write and do some reading. Because my husband will be rabidly watching the game. And I will give you one reason.

This guy

He is a Colts fan. To the end. I had been hoping that we would have a household divided. However, alas my Vikings lost. Therefore, I guess in the end I am going to be a Colts Fan because I do not want the Saints to win. Sorry today’s Saturday Sanctuary is short but it is all I can think about on my sleep-deprived state of mind. I will give a weekly update in the Sunday Salon.

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

Another Saturday Sanctuary and this week will be easy. Give us an update on your week. How did it go? Did you have some of the Bad Weather?

Luckily, we did not get any of the bad weather that is going on here. We actually had a warm up for a little bit, however it is now snapped into very very cold. That is typical here in the Frozen North. My week was stressful with Doctor Visits and hospital visits. One of my favorite swap sites still has me frozen out you can see more information on there here at Birth of a Notion. I am irate about it and have not even gotten a reply since last Sunday. Because I had bigger issues to deal with this week, like my health I haven’t done too much about it but I plan to contact them no later than this Sunday. I have three books sitting here that I want to check in with them and can’t. It is infuriating.

Being sick however, I did get some reading done. I have to catch up and do my review of the Gordon Ramsay book, which was good overall. In addition, I am just now starting Thanks for the memories after taking a little break. I have gotten a TON of the Nigerian 419 scam emails this week I wonder if it is scam week.

Have a good Saturday!

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

Today’s Saturday Sanctuary is just to sit back and think about why you started blogging. I admit it is a little bit of a Lazy topic to just think about it, but I also think it is good to reflect on such things occasionally. In addition, I have been pretty down in the bed this week. Have a fantastic Saturday.

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

What makes you Smile?

I can admit that it does not take much to make me smile. A thoughtful word, a thoughtful email. A good book. But most of all I smile when I get mail. I know it sounds silly but I really love mail. I am not talking about junk mailers, or bills. Because who smiles when they get those kind of things. But when I get a letter, or a postcard!

I have started collecting Postcards so when I get one that really makes me smile. Especially when I get one for the states that I still need. But really I love all postcards to me they are like little bits of art in my mailbox.

Letters also make me smile. Especially because I have started pen paling again. And yesterday I got three letters in the mail! That really did make me happy. I have written some replies and am eager to work on more. But my hand is all cramped up! To much typing and not enough writing lately, HA HA.

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

What inspires you?

Weather your inspiration is to write, to read or just to be. What is it that inspires you? For me it is a lot of things, and honestly it depends on what mood I am in for writing often times it is a good book that makes my mind go busy. It is like reading another authors fantastic work makes me go, “Hey maybe I can do that too!” and the ideas come.

I am also inspired by views. And by views I mean those of the nature variety. One of the fantastic things about living is Minnesota that even in the city you have some beautiful and breath taking views of trees, and rolling landscapes, even the Minneapolis skyline has a beauty to it.

And lately some of my fellow bloggers have been an inspiration to me as well. Like J. Kaye and her novel writing project. Watching what she is doing makes me look on in awe; she is so fantastically organized compared to me. But if I watch maybe, just maybe I can learn and change my own habits as well!

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

What are your big plans for the New Year?

Do you have any big plans for the New Year? I try not to make resolutions because I don’t always keep them but I make plans and thoughts. And this year I have several Irons in the fire I just hope I can keep up with them. One of course is to continue my work here at the Fire & Ice blog and work on my challenges I have signed up for.

Another and brand new one is to do more writing. I will keep up with the freelance work I have been doing on the silly articles and the like there, but I also want to do more creative writing again. So I have set up a writing blog for myself called Marked Ambrosia. My friend Sara helped me come up with the name I shot off some ideas and she hashed it out, I think we make a good team on that. Marked Ambrosia will focus on my needing to write more like I used to, I will give daily updates and than Bi Weekly stories of what I have worked on for those two weeks.

A third project for the New Year was started towards the end of last year but it is a fun one. The Random Acts of Smiles project is my pet project to make mail about more than just bills. In this modern age of computers I don’t think people send letters and postcards much anymore. I know I don’t get very many, but when I get one it makes me smile brightly. When I was a kid I used to have a lot of pen pals and I got a lot of mail, and smiled every time. Now as an adult most of my mail is bills, and I hate that. Getting a card or a letter something like that is always a big surprise that offers me a big smile. I want to share that feeling with everyone else. I want to give smiles and postcards to as many people as I possibly can. Join in the fun if you want, and spread the word. It is a free project I do it out of my own limited funds, but I am happy to.

And my last and final project for the year (as of now anyways) is my Lady Ambrosia’s Creations blog. I am working on Blog Designs, Historical Costumes, Candles and my new obsession arm warmers. Oh how I love arm warmers I think everyone should have some of those. So those are my New Year projects, what are yours? Share with me and put it in the linky!

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*

What do you do for Christmas Traditions?

We do not have too many Christmas traditions in my family that have survived the deaths of two Grandmas, however we used to have traditions that I loved when I was growing up. Christmas Eve would be spent at my Grandpa’s we would have dinner, sing some carols and open some presents. Grandpa would than read us a Christmas story book and we would go to Midnight Mass. Most of the time I fell asleep but I remember going to the Cathedral with Grandpa and the family for those nights.

Than Christmas day after breakfast and our own presents at home we would be spent with my Grandma on my Moms side. She had the tree in her living room with presents piled underneath it. All of the family would show up and we would all gather around the tree, and talk and share stories and laugh. Than we would eat dinner buffet style because there was so many of us. It was fantastic.

After we were all full, the parents ready for what was coming we handed out presents. The little kids got to help grandma pass out presents. As she would read the names and tell us who to go to. She liked to give the kids their own presents and we got to make our own little piles of presents happily. We would open everything and than it was time to play with new toys, watch movies and eventually happily fall asleep.

I really miss those times.