HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY HANNUKAH

I cannot help but be grateful for the beautiful day we have in front of us - family stopping by and sun shining brightly. I call them GTBAD - Good to be alive days - when you just cherish the simple things and pause to be happy and idle - in the very best of ways - eating, relaxing and laughing.

I treated my girls (chickens) to a half of a butternut squash and they chowed down to the point where their beaks were covered with orange left overs. Quite a funny sight and well worth the effort to bake it up for them.  Yes, they like their squash cooked!

Simple pleasures to me are the best... and I enjoyed their enjoyment... funny birds..

We have a helper here in the  barn, actually two - first we have our newest member Papercatz beetle  and of course we have our other  member Andrew M. who regales me with tales of Sponge Bob and Mickey Mouse while he  works at helping us get products ready.   Andrew is a young adult with autism and an utter delight to add him to our helpers.  He requires assistance and some direction, but once he gets started - he is the best helper I could ever ask for.  I enjoy every second he stops by and he is becoming a really good helper here as he learns new things.

When he ages out of the educational system (this year) he will be hard pressed to find a job, as he requires a low anxiety environment, and some assistance and redirection,  but I hope that we can keep him  working here at Papercatz as the entire premise of our company is to help young adults with autism be creatively employed.

On the other front our  studio bug helper arrived last night. As I was working through foam and moss and pots creating little Christmas trees, I spotted him walking along, very slowly and methodically, as these insects tend to do... and I curiously noted green feet  and green antennae - it had tediously walked through a forest of green foam to rise up on the top of the pot in my direct line of vision.  He appeared to be stopping periodically to try to clean off his feet. They appeared to be covered in green snow.  I thought it was hilarious and stopped to get a picture of  him/her/it.  Soon, thereafter, our newest helper was treated to a little outside enjoyment as I let it go into the night to figure out how it might remove all of the moss it had picked up walking across my pots.

I thought I might share some of those simple moments, but very spontaneous  and uplifting.

Andre M helping to make our Christmas trees!

Papercatz helper

Merry Bug !