Pitiful blogger=ME

Didn't seem like it had been a month since I posted last, but I see it has. I am so really not sure where time goes when it flies by. You would think that 2 old empty-nesters would have so much time on their hands they wouldn't know what to do with it, but evidently that is not how it works. We seem to be on the go too much and with not much to show for it. I mean it is not travelling to interesting places or doing wonderful things, just life stuff.

As far as life goes, we have much to be thankful for right now. Among many other blessings, Mom is doing pretty well right now and our daughters are, too, for the most part. Holly's Chris is looking for a job at present,  but he has several prospects so we are hopeful it that regard.  Also little Thomas will be one year old next month! Hard to believe! I'm including new shots of him for you to look at since I don't have anything else photographed to show yet that I've been working on.

In the artistic department, I have actually gotten some things done, but don't have them ready to show yet.  I am STILL working on my stuff to send to my friend, Beth, for our fabric cuff swap. I've had the cuff done for several months, but am making myself finish the extra goodies before I send it to her. I know myself and if I don't get it all done, I'll procrastinate on the extra and never get it to her. Sad story, but I recognize the way I am. I already owed her in my mind  from a previous swap many months ago!  I am pathetic and that is a fact.  BUT, I have made great progress on the surprise and hope to have it done before much longer. Also, I finally put the finishing touches on Thomas' 2nd of 3 collage pictures.  Also, sad because these were supposed to be done when he was born.  I will be starting on the last alligator one, maybe to get it completed for his 1st birthday.  See further evidence of my professional ability to procrastinate!! I have also done some journal pages.  What I am doing on those is washes of watercolor paint on torn-out book pages and also just playing some with color blobs and such.  These are for future journalling fodder and to use on Bethie's gift.

Speaking of the paint, let me take a moment to warn you of the dangers of leaving watercolor paint out.  I had bought some assorted tubes of watercolor at a yard sale in a plastic bin.  Granted these are the regular METAL tubes that paints come in.  I had done this painting last Thursday evening while watching a movie. I didn't clean everything up because it got to be time for bed.  Planned to do it later. Silly me left the plastic bin sitting on the end of the couch.  You can probably see where this is going.  Kerry calls me at work to tell me that Maggie got into the paint tubes while we were both gone.  He gets home earlier than I do.  I was expecting much worse, but she only got it on a throw on the couch and herself amazingly enough! She has a red spot right in the middle of her throat and some blue and green on her feet.  It would probably wash off, but I've not felt up to giving her a bath. Never dreamed of her wanting to chew on metal, but there you go!  She constantly surprises me!  She makes me laugh, too, so much is forgiven.

This past Friday I contracted a really bad stomach bug or food poisoning. Anyway, was really sick.  Couldn't work Saturday. Actually couldn't even stand up. Sunday I felt well enough to sit up so I got some rubber stamps and stamp pads and played with them on some of the painted pages, using some stamps  that have never had ink on them.  Had a little fun.  I'm trying to get my artistic mojo going again.  Recently have finally had a little extra time here and there, but just had the blahs as far as art goes. Hopefully it's coming back as bits and pieces of progress are being made.  Of course, this is always at the expense of housework, but then something has to give!

I leave you with picture of this sweet face with these long eyelashes.

Father's Day

With Father's Day coming up, of course my Dad has been on my mind lately.  Here is a picture of him when he went to work at Monsanto in Decatur, Alabama in the late sixties.  I need to find out actual dates and write them down. Wasn't he such a handsome fellow!?!  He was one of the sweetest people I've ever known and always had a hug for us when we were growing up and even when we were grown. He comes from a family of "huggers".  When you leave a visit with any of them, more than likely you will get a hug and a caution to "be careful" which originated with my Granny, Dad's Mom. 

Above is a picture of my father with my Mom either taken when they were dating or very early in their marriage.  They graduated in May, 1958 and then married young in January, 1959.  Mom was only 15 when she graduated as she had been double-promoted twice during her school days, turning 16 right afterwards.  Dad was 19 when they married.  I was born then in 1960 and my brothers, Stanley and Gary, in 1962 and 1965. They were very young parents.

Here is my Dad with me at my wedding in 1980.  The year following he and my mother ended up getting a divorce.  Dad married again in 1981 and had 2 more sons, Jeremy and Tony, with his wife, Charlotte.  He always joked that I was the best daughter he had!  Because he ended up raising another family while I was doing the same, we didn't get to see each other as much maybe as I would have liked to, but still talked and visited fairly often, especially earlier on.  As years passed, seemed like life got so hectic that I didn't make the time for these things like I should have. Dad was forced to retire early, in his early 60's, because he had developed Alzheimer's.  I didn't know it at the time and only found this out later. He died year before last in November.  One of my regrets in life is that I didn't spend as much time with him as I should have. We get so involved in day-to-day living that it becomes so easy to let simple but important things like this slide.

Take time to hug those you love!  If your Dad is still with you, give him a big one!  Make time with loved ones a priority in your life.  One less thing to regret later on.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!  Love you so much! 

Lovely swap goodies received!

I was so thrilled when I opened the package waiting on me when I got home Friday! I've mentioned before that my friend, Beth, and I had agreed to do a fabric cuff swap.  I've finished my cuff for Beth but have some other things I'm wanting to make for her and don't have them ready yet.  Anyway, the cuff Beth made for me is SSOOOooo beautiful!!!! I love everything about it, the colors, antique buttons, sweet little pearls and lace trims, and especially the bird charm which is the centerpiece.  Beth included a note to explain that the base of the cuff is an old quilt top and the bird charm is from a bracelet which she took apart.  She also made a gorgeous necklace from another charm with hand-wrapped paper beads, pink and white pearls, accented with clear glass rose beads to match the fabric cuff.  Again I totally love the colors and how she tied the rose theme together in both pieces.  I love birds and flowers so this was just a perfect choice. I told her I will have to hide these when my daughters are home to prevent them from taking off with them!  On top of these lovelies, her note card itself is a piece of art.  Beth is very talented at Zentangles, which is new to me, but I believe is like art doodles taken to the extreme of coolness as you can see in the pic of the card.  My plans are to mount this to hang as a colorful work of art.  Isn't she so talented!?!  Also she added some "fun stuff" in the package consisting of some of the antique buttons like on the bracelet, painted dominoes to alter, quilt heart, and some other little goodies.  She is such a sweet, generous friend! I will be hard-pressed to equal her wonderful present to me.  These will be treasured! Thanks so much, Bethie!  Please be patient with me!

Necklace and fabric cuff

Closeup of necklace

Lovely Zentangle card

Extra goodies

The beauty of trees

While at church Sunday morning, I was observing the faces of those around me.  By this I mean I was literally looking at the faces, noticing how people I've known over the years through school or attending church have changed.  If you see a face fairly often, the metamorphosis from aging is not so readily apparent and the faces are just accepted as what they are.  I changed my perspective, trying to recall the faces as they were at a younger age, noting how time has altered the person's appearance, the characteristics that stayed the same, how the changes often make the person more beautiful just in a different way.

This thought process somehow segued into comparing people to trees. I must say I love trees.  Love looking at them, marvelling at the beauty of them, the many ways that branches can grow on a tree, some twisty and curly, others straight and reaching toward the sky.  How beautiful the trees look in every season!  In spring, there are small green buds or colorful sprigs of flowers bringing hope for growth and warmth after the cold of winter. The full grown leaves of summer feed the tree, provide shelter, and give us greenness to beautify our world.  As the leaves turn the glorious shades of autumn, the horizons portray the masterpieces painted with the brush that God holds in His hand.  When bare of the leaves that graced them in other seasons, the beauty of just the shapes of the trees and their branches becomes apparent.

In the words of the preceding paragraph, I think you can see how I began to relate trees and people. Each season of our life has a beauty all it's own.  As written in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything.  The young are lovely in a way unmarred by the ravages of time.  They are tender but resilient all the same. As growth brings them to young adulthood, hopefully roots grow that will anchor them firmly when storms blow.  Sometimes there may be damage from these life storms, branches lost, wounds inflicted by uncaring individuals, and even some that will be lost altogether in the different stages of life to disease or the storms. Those who survive to adulthood will bear the scars and the signs of the passage of time but still have a God-given unique beauty only enhanced by these marks of character.  Often the spark of the child within can still be seen in the face of those who are granted the favored privilege of old age, especially those who can appreciate the value and preciousness of life. I had the fortune of working with people for many years in a hospital with the majority of our patients being in the latter stages of life. There is beauty in the wrinkles and the sight-dimmed eyes just as there is in a tree that has lost most of it's branches. Even when the life is gone from the tree and there remains only a stump, nature is still at work, returning the remains of a tree back to the ground to enrich the soil to bring new life again. Hopefully we leave enough goodness behind when we are gone that we, too, are still contributing to the lives of those coming along after us. Even if it be a nameless legacy that would be enough for me.

Already into another month

I know I keep saying it but time is flying by. I just enjoyed a great Mother's Day weekend. I was off for 4 days so we took advantage of this time to take some furniture down to Emily that we had stored here in Mom and Pop's Storage Building(aka our garage)on Thursday evening and exchange it for a baby Thomas. Definitely think we got the better end of the deal all the way around, a little more room in the garage and spending time with our precious grandson. Bad Granna that I am, I did not take the first picture all weekend! Emily drove up Friday evening to join us for a visit. This was her first Mother's Day. I totally intended to take some nice photos for remembrance and then we stayed so busy I never did. Oh, well, we have memories, although Emily and I joked that we don't know how long we'll have them the way we forget things. I told her we could just make something up when and if we did!

I've spent all evening working with my desktop, trying to get it working faster, with no luck. For my internet browsing these days I'm using my laptop since the desktop is sssooo slow.  My scanner is connected to the desktop computer, so if I want to scan some art to share on my blog, I need to do it there.  The connections/plugs are not easy to get to or I would just have it to where I could use the scanner interchangeably with either my laptop or the desktop.  I got my latest art scanned but only managed to get one pic loaded onto my blog before I lost patience with it all.  Shown above is a spread I've done in a cute deco book/journal that a friend of Beth's has going around.  I've had it several months now and need to get it in the mail to the next person.  Hope to get that done this week.  The theme of these pages is to take joy in the moment and were done by gesso on the base pages, collage with various paper scraps, and a little stamping. 

I have completed and did scan the fabric cuff I've done for Beth, but the scan didn't save to my blog. It will be a post for another day and upon thinking about it some more, might be best if I wait to show it until I've sent it to Bethie anyways.  I still haven't made the extra gifts that I want to send with the cuff so that is the reason it's still here and not on it's way to her. I've ideas and plans that I hope come about soon in regards to art and crafting.  Trying to keep up hope that I will find a way to incorporate art into my life again and have a creativity spark be there as well. 

Today I had time but I was not feeling well, achy and draggy like I'm coming down with a cold.  Emily and Kerry have both been sick with some really bad stuff, so I hope that is not what it is.  I'm fortunate to hardly ever be sick, having developed a strong immune system working at the hospital, I guess.  I've been drinking Airborne and taking my vitamins trying to fight this off and hope to be successful.

Blog is evidently on vacation

Blog is not dead just not very active at the moment. Guess that goes for the blogger as well. Life has been pretty busy, as usual, although work is going much better overall. I've gotten used to the testing routines, so that is not so hard, and then some problems we had been having that caused us to have to stay over very late are better for the most part.

I've still not adjusted to the different schedule with less off days so that I find I'm not creating as much as I used to. I feel this is mostly due to not as much time but then also because I'm still not in the groove to be creative. I have finished a fabric cuff for Beth for a swap I think I mentioned before. I want to get some surprises done to send with it, as I owe Bethie for a hostess gift from a previous swap. Will have to get it scanned or take pics when I get it all together.

I really want to get to making some jewelry. I've been blessed with lots of "stuff" along those lines. For example, all those costume jewelry pins that a sweet friend gave me last year. Have lots of ideas in my head and just have to get my act together and get started.

Along the line of excuses, we've had a series of plumbing problems and we have done some travelling. We were fortunate to be able to spend a week in Waco, Texas visiting my youngest dd and her husband, Chris. We mostly just relaxed, enjoying spending time with them, but we did get a little sight-seeing in. Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper and we were able to visit it's museum. Very interesting! I've a few shots taken while we were out there. I'll try to do a post soon and show those.

In the meantime, here are a couple of recent shots of little Thomas. One is at bath time and the other of him enjoying a simple wooden spoon. He has learned to crawl and is working on pulling up, so fun times are in store for all, especially Emily and Craig!

I thought you might also like to see what Miss Maggie looks like after a few months living with the Thompson's. You can see her before pic on the side of my blog. Bless her heart, she is looking too much like her Mommy(me, that is) and also kind of like a little pot-bellied piggie!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone!  I'm so bad about posting I thought I would get this post in early and I'm cheating by using pics from last Easter's decorations.  None out this year.  Busy with the "this and that" of life in general.  In addition, we are participating in an Easter musical drama at church  and so have some extra practices this last 2 weeks before the performance.  My friend, Jeanie, has a wonderful post of her Easter decorations replete with bunnies and a gorgeous chandelier egg wreath.  So it inspired me, not to get my decorations out, but to just take the easy route and show what I did with some of my bunnies last year.

Shown above are some the Capidomonte rose candleholders I have and a sweet lamb planter that once belonged to my Granny Parker(my Dad's Mom).  I had put this out in memory of them, but also to be symbolic of Easter's true meaning by placing the cross inside the lamb. I think I posted these photos last year, so please forgive my cheating!

For our Easter drama, the choir has to wear a Biblical costume as we are the "crowd".  I had one(made about 20 years ago) but Kerry didn't, ssoooo, this had led me to get the sewing machine that I bought about 2 years past, brush the cobwebs off it(literally, lol), and get past my fear of the scary sewing machine monster. I learned how to sew many, many moons ago from my Mom, but she was not totally patient, shall we say, so I only learned the basics.  The experience left me with a lack of confidence in that area  that grew over the years in my mind.  Mom gave me her old electric sewing machine about 20 years ago and I managed to thread it and sew a few things, including the costume I'm wearing, but it messed up so much that I again got discouraged.   That machine ended up being thrown away as it wasn't worth fixing and that was the last time I sewed anything except by hand until yesterday.  Made myself get the manual for the machine  and follow the directions for threading the bobbin and the sewing machine itself step-by-step.  After I got started some of what I learned before came back. I've gotten Kerry's costume sewn together, although some is poorly done. It  was just basically a large rectangle with a slit cut for his head that I hemmed the edges of and sewed the sides together. My hope is not to get good enough to make garments, but to be able to use the sewing machine in my artistic endeavors, like with art quilts or the like. 

I'll leave you with a shot of my favorite little man, as he was one morning last week, bad hair and all!

Postscript: In my busy-ness and my not posting, I've forgotten all about the feature I have available to me that enables me to see the number of visitors to my blog.  Went there today and saw that people are actually checking in, so my sincere apologies for not updating more.  I'll try to be more faithful about putting something here for you to read.  Not that I'm arrogant to think that what I post here is that great or anything, I just hate to think someone takes the time to drop by and I've offered nothing.

FYI

I added back the word verification feature to the comments as I am getting tired of Anonymous spam.

Interesting results, but not surprising

took this online quiz for right/left brain tendencies with the results being split exactly down the middle. Was hoping for answers that would help but have to admit I am really not surprised. Now I have proof that I have a split personality, lol! My entire life is like this. Examples: I love artistic things and self-expression, but then my career has been that of being a technician; I'm organized in some ways(close friends and family are not allowed to let me know how hard they are laughing now!) but totally scatter-brained and disorganized in others; when I was trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up(you know, like last week I was wondering) the possibilities were all over the map! Heck, even my husband and I are totally opposite! I'll just end this by saying I'm going to interpret this to mean that instead of being crazy, I'm just a "well-rounded" person. Ha, in more ways than one, she says, looking down!

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

One post per month

seems to be what I'm up to these days. As I've said before time is just flying by. I am getting a little art done here and there, although I never got anything done for One World One Heart. I haven't even been able to visit the participants much this time. Did finish 3 atcs and just lack getting the backs decorated before I drop them in the mail for a 3/3 swap. Also, have done a spread in a deco book that was passed on to me from my friend, Beth. It's actually for a lady who lives in California that I don't know. I was fairly pleased with how it turned out, since I was just kind of playing around. Will have to share before I mail it out to the next recipient, but right now I'm on the internet most of the time on my laptop which connects most easily with my wireless device. The desktop has some kind of issues that I've not conquered yet that make it very slow in getting started, taking like 30 minutes to load the initial web browser page, so with limited time to browse I'll get on the laptop. It's not connected to my scanner which is my favorite way to post pics of art. With a camera can be hard to capture all details. Will do my best to get some art on here soon. Also got a spread done in one of my journals last week and some pages prepped with gesso in an altered book. Small steps but better than none at all!

I want to try some jewelry ideas out and do some fabric art, too. I've done a few fabric cuffs which are fun to do and still have a cuff swap to complete for Bethie! I want it to be really special so I've kind of been putting it off so that I do justice to the project. Beth has been such a generous and encouraging art friend!

In the place of art, I share with you 2 photos of this little fellow that has stolen my heart! He is growing so fast! Only get to see him in person every couple of weeks or so, so he is doing something new and has changed in his looks each time. He is starting to try to talk at 6 months. His first word was "Mama", although I'm sure his Grampy would have loved it if it had been "Bama"! Grandbabies are such a special blessing!

Insights

I'm such a blogging failure right now. I suppose I've been waiting until I had something interesting to blog about, like new art to show or exciting events in my life to report. Since nothing like that is going on, there has been no blogging! Also, I'm mainly using my laptop now, since my desktop has become extremely slow for some reason I've not been able to determine. Almost all of my art scans are on my desktop, so no quick access to any of those pics.

Actually, I have worked on the collage series I'm doing for Thomas. Previously I posted about the turtle picture and have now finished the one of a cute little spotted elephant. Now there just remains the alligator collage and I'll be done with those. Will try to post a photo of the elephant collage soon. Maybe I'll have all of them done by then anyway.

As for life, the new job is going much better. I'm about to get over the learning curve part, so the stress level is going down. Since this is such a new company, improvements and additions to the testing process are constant so there will not be a time for awhile, I don't think, where I can totally relax, but at least the main initial stress of learning an almost totally new set of job skills is over. I'm not finding the 1 hour drive to be as bad as I worried it might be, partly due to the fact that I'm carpooling a week at a time with a friend and coworker.

We did get to keep Thomas last weekend from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. I had to work on Saturday, so Kerry had him by himself most of the day. He did go to his Mom's for a visit, but other than that cared for Thomas, including feedng him lunch and changing diapers! We stayed on the go almost the entire time, taking Thomas to see Mom on Saturday evening and then taking Thomas to church with us on Sunday morning before having to drive back to meet Emily and Craig in Birmingham to give Thomas back. It was fun to get to see how he interacts with the world now and how he is changing. I could go into great detail with all that, as a grandmother, but I'll spare you all!

Tomorrow starts the OWOH giveway that I've participated in the last couple of years. I've been trying to decide whether to do it again this year. Obviously if I do enter it I will be late, but we'll see if I can get a prize together. I feel guilty entering to win prizes, if I don't offer one myself. I enjoy giving something away as much as I do having a chance to win. I really need to finish Thomas' pictures and then I have a fabric cuff swap to do for my dear friend, Beth. Also a 3/3 atc swap to finish(almost done with that) and then a deco book to work in. Besides those obligations, I want to start playing around in the art room again. I'll be trying to get my act together for the OWOH event, but check it out anyway. Lots of wonderful blogs and art to discover out there.

There are so many things I want to try. I want to get back into journaling again. That is so rewarding, but I've gotten away from making time for it. I look back on some of the pages I've done and read things I've written and never regret them, just regret not doing it more. Sometimes there are entries about life struggles and I can now see how God led me through them. Other times my writings will be about my thought processes or observations regarding my life. When rereading what I've written I am often surprised at my insight or what I wrote about my feelings. I'll think, "wow, did I write that?". Not that I'm a great writer or anything, far from it, but when you write from the heart without holding back, it can be amazing to see what comes out even from an ordinary person like me. That is the way art is too for me. When I just make art from the heart without overthinking it too much, these pieces often turn out to be my favorites. I send a lot of my art out into the world to others, since they will be for swaps that I've signed up for, so it's no longer here for me to see, but I usually scan or take pics. I'll look back at them, be amazed, and wonder where it came from. My point being, especially with journaling, that you should try to take the time for it. Write, draw, collage, or whatever you want to do from the your heart and you won't regret it.

My Mom has taken the time to journal throughout the years. Often she is just recording daily events. She collected some of her early journal entries and presented them to us several years ago for Christmas, These chronicle our early years with tidbits about what we were up to as little kids, how much Christmas from "Santa" cost and what we received, what was going in in our family life, etc. I took this out right after Christmas this year to read. I can see as time goes by, how much it means to have these memories to look over. My Mom's father was a very meticulous recorder of where his pennies went. He was a German born immigrant, coming to America with his family when he was just a little boy around 1900. His journal entries of the family's spending include side notes about floods, sicknesses, births, and in and of themselves a fascinating picture of how my Mother and her family were raised during often very hard times on a farm in the South. So even if your style of journaling is just to record what is going on in your life, these examples from my family show me that this will not be time wasted either.

Maybe I'm saying all this to remind MYSELF of how important a journal can be for various reasons so that I WILL get back into this valuable habit again.

Christmas shots around our house 2009

As I get all the Christmas taken down and put away, here are a few shots of what little Christmas decorating was done around here. Above, Tiny Tim was the only tree that got decorated since he's so small and I hated to not have a tree up at all. The Wooly Mammoth(Kerry's 9 ft tree that he insisted on) was gotten out of the box and set up because I had told Kerry I refused to do it all alone. Alas, Kerry never volunteered to assist me in getting lights on this monstrosity so all it has on it right now are the 2 cute ornaments Holly made and gave us for Christmas. I really must go take a pic of that to record it for posterity as it is a very sad sight indeed. A huge, flocked beautiful tree sitting unadorned, no lights, except for those 2 ornaments. There was so little free time left in the weeks before Christmas, that I was hard-pressed to get my shopping done, much less decorate. Had to work late several nights and then there just always seemed to be other engagements on the other evenings and off days.


Above and below are the spots above my kitchen cabinets. I decided to decorate these this time, since I finally had gotten the tin ceiling varnished, although please excuse the spots on the wall. I'm not through with the wall treatments and will be covering these up with either trim and/or wallpaper border or repainting. Used the white and green pottery pieces that I have with a little red thrown it. Fronted that with some of the vintage Christmas pieces I've acquired over the years. The Christmas stuff will be coming down as well as the green and then I think I'm going to mix back in some pink for Valentine's day. This is the first year I've tried doing this, so not sure how I'll like it or if I will find it too time-consuming to fool with.




The mantel I've propped up in the dining room got a few quick vintage Christmas items to brighten it up and then I set up a tablescape of houses and Christmas trees. This is the entry room of the house and where Tiny Tim is also. Those are the 2 shots below.



And then best of all, a picture of my favorite little guy:


For those with whom I'm friends on Facebook, my apologies since you've already seen this picture. Emily took it earlier this week so that I could see what his hair looks like first thing in the morning. He has a section across the top that never came out and is longer than all the rest of the peach fuzz covering his head. It's one of my favorite shots of him so far(hhhmm, wonder how many times I'll say that!?!) so I'm going to post it again here. He has the sweetest expression on his face, although I know I am a totally prejudiced grandmother.

Yay, something artistic to post about!

My daughters scheduled us for a painting session at Sips and Strokes in Tuscaloosa this past Monday evening. This was our last chance at a Mother/Daughter get together before Holly left out Tuesday morning to fly back to Waco. We had a good time. Emily took a few shots of the occasion with her phone camera. First shot is us with our aprons during the class, then below some of me with each daughter, works in progress, one of both Emily and Holly together, and lastly our finished paintings. I tried to make a link to the painting we were supposed to be doing, but couldn't get that to work, so here is one the the calendar they have where the cross we did is shown toward the bottom for classes later on somewhere else.

The premise of the workshop is for the instructor to show the step by step instructions to the group for you to complete a simple painting during the 2 hour class, with wine available for purchase and sipping, thus the name of the business. There were over 70 women in attendance, many came in groups or families as we did, and fun was had by all. Maybe this will inspire me to get out those paint sets that I have bought and never opened! Emily reminds me though, that first, I must finish up the collage/paintings that I have started and promised for Thomas. I have only completed one of three, although the others have been started. Hopefully the New Year will see me more settled as far as my job situation goes and find me more organized as to my time utilization.

Merry Christmas!

One of Santa's little helper's wanted me to remember to post and wish all of you a wonderful Christmas season. Hope all of you are getting to enjoy time with those you love. We have already had our get together with the kids(minus Holly's husband, Chris, who was unable to come home due to work). Also had the one with Kerry's family, so it kind of feels like Christmas is already over here. We still have a lunch at my Mom's to look forward to tomorrow, but Emily, Craig, and Thomas won't be there for that one so they can spend time with Craig's family also.

This weather we are having is some of the nastiest and strange that I ever remember on Christmas. We are having hurricane-like winds that have been blowing all day. Hoping the power stays on as the lights were flickering earlier.

I've been fortunate enough to have been keeping Thomas since Sunday evening. We went to get him and he has stayed with us until today, so that Holly could spend some time with him while she is home visiting us. She will leave to go back to Texas on Tuesday. It has been wonderful seeing her, too. They moved to Waco this past May and the only time we've seen her is when she came home for Thomas' birth.

We exchanged gifts last evening and it is really touching to see how my daughters are so thoughtful in their giving. I will have to take pics of some of the gifts so you can see. Kerry also came up with a thoughtful gift which was a pendant that is to commemorate Thomas's birth as it has the birthstones of Kerry, Thomas, and Emily.

Again, I wish each of you a blessed Christmas filled with love, hope, and peace.

New record for no posting!

Can not believe it has been a month! Life just seems so busy right now. The new job has been pretty stressful. Learning a new set of job skills after 28 plus years of doing the same type job has taken a lot out of me. I'm still not used to only having 2 days a week off. I know that is what most of the working world is used to, but for over a year I've worked 7 on/7 off and then for some years before that worked 4 ten hour shifts. So I've become accustomed to having extra off days to take care of things. Having only 1 real off day is throwing me. I'm off on Sundays and Mondays, but Sunday's are usually pretty busy, leaving only Monday. I am going to have to learn to manage my time better, especially my evening hours after I get home. Two hours of travel time add to time away from home every work day, but I know I can do better than I do with time management. I also believe that once the stress of learning and implementing the new job skills eases that things will be easier to handle. I'm going to post this update without a pic for now since it's been so long without a word from me here. Not much going on artistically, but I do have cute baby pics that I could show.

Happy Halloween!!!

Wow, life has been so busy lately that I didn't realize it had been over 2 weeks since I posted. Thought this would be the perfect time to share the Halloween atcs I did for the Halloween atc swap. The top scan was one I stole from my friend Beth's post at the atc yahoo group. Her scan was better than the pic I had of the "2 Witches" atc. The other pics are mine. I didn't have time to do scans before I had to get the atcs in the mail, so these shots I took with my digital camera are not the best. I received 3 really great Halloween atcs myself but they are at work so I can enjoy them, since I seem to be there more than home right now, and also so I could show them off to the people at work.

Work is going pretty well, but that is why I've not posted for the most part. Had to stay late a lot of evenings. This week I have been preparing for and taking my competency, which is really an evaluation of your training and readiness to perform the job. I still have a little bit more to do for the competency then I will be able to start doing patient testing. Was really worried and stressed out about that and so glad it is almost over. Once I get past this totally, I know I will feel better and will be able to settle into a routine and enjoy the job and workplace so much more. Still even with this stress, it is so much better than where I was before and I am SO thankful to have this opportunity to try something new, especially considering the economy and job market. I know how lucky I am.

I did tell a friend at work, one that I also worked with at Woodland, that I will be glad when I no longer feel displaced. My brain just has not been able to process all the changes yet, so I am still not feeling totally "at home" with where I am. It is like if you moved into a new home. Even if it is where you will be living and you love it, it still takes a little while before you feel like it is "home" and you no longer feel a sense of newness, if that makes sense.

Oh yes, have also been having some computer issues, that are still not totally resolved. For about a week, was not able to use either my desktop or my laptop because of very slow or no browsing capabilities on the internet. With my work schedule, I didn't have time to try to get if going again. Still it is slow, but at least it is working.

Halloween table-quick post

Taking a break from housework and taxes. Did a quickie table decoration for Halloween this weekend because the previous decorations were very summery-looking. I do have some more cutsie child-friendly decorations, which might be a better idea next year when Thomas is more aware. These are just some various flea market and thrift store finds that I thought looked kind of spooky when put together. The pics are a little dark. They were too bright with the flash and too dark without it.

New month, new beginnings

Wow, life gets away with me and blogging doesn't figure into the picture. I've now finished up my last days in a hospital setting, I hope. Will start my new job next Tuesday. God really underscored and put exclamations points by the reasons I hated the job, especially my last night to work. I believe I will remember for a while why I wanted to leave.

During my last couple of nights to work, my little grandson, Thomas, was hospitalized with viral pneumonia, but it was not very bad, thankfully, or they caught it early, so he only stayed a night and a day. I went down Wednesday after I got off work to keep him Thursday and Friday so Emily and Craig could get back to work. Not that I had to have my arm twisted to do so. It was good to get to see and hold him after the worry of him being sick. He is better except for suffering a bit with colic, possible from having acid reflux, and being a little anemic. He'll have to start taking some iron supplements and they will also begin with a little cereal in his formula.

I was participating in a Halloween atc swap for my friend, Beth. Did manage to get those done and in the mail this week. I always try to do extra cards for the hostess and/or make a hostess gift. This time I didn't get those made yet, but will be doing that and getting in the mail to Beth soon. I took pics instead of scans and won't post them until Beth gets the atcs which I hope will be today.

Way behind on housework and need to get my tax stuff together. Yes, I know it is not traditional tax time, but we had to file extensions this year since the partnership return for the farm was not ready before now due to Kerry's Dad's surgeries and all. Shouldn't be on here piddling away my time on the internet, but here I am, lol.

Drawings and new life journeys

Don't think I've ever blogged about drawing. Mostly because I rarely do it anymore. Many, many moons ago, when I was a young lass, I loved to draw. That is how my interest in art began. On my own, I experimented some with painting, but mostly I drew. When I was in college obtaining my 2 associate degrees, I took several drawing and painting courses, all they offered at the time actually at WSCC except for the pottery classes. The painting was with oils, so I've never had any teachings in watercolor or acrylics.

The drawing above is one I did while about junior high age, I think, from looking at a picture in a National Geographic magazine. I entered it in the local county fair art competition. Won a first place ribbon. Unfortunately I just drew it on some stationery paper since I had no real art papers and mounted it to a burlap-wrapped piece of cardboard with regular cellophane tape instead of a frame. It looked nice at the time and suited the subject matter, but over the years the paper has yellowed and the 6 spots where the tape touched the paper had turned brown. I scanned it yesterday for this post and retouched the brown spots and posterized it some with the photo editing software to minimized the damage time has inflicted on the paper.

I married while in college, got a lab job immediately upon graduation, and then we had our 2 babies not long after. Life got very busy and as is the case with a lot of working Moms, I put the artistic side of myself on hold. Locked it away somewhere for safekeeping actually. I did do some embroidery and cross stitch which was my way of creative expression at the time. Still have lots of patterns, threads, fabrics, etc. from these times put back that I keep meaning to go back to.

Several years ago, while on a frugal lifestyle forum, I ran across the mention of altered books which led to my exploring the internet for further information. This has led in turn to my widespread interest in all forms of altered arts and thus my return to art. I had never been exposed to mixed media art and find it so fascinating with all it's infinite possibilities. So mostly I've been going from this to that just having fun learning and trying new things. Still, I have wanted to return to the basics to see if I can still draw or paint, maybe finding a way to bring all these things together. I started a sketchbook journal, but so far only have a couple of drawings in it. The drawing below is not even in there. It is one I did at work one night(it was a slow night, what can I say) at Woodland on a piece of printer paper from a Time magazine cover picture of Kate Winslett(see link here). Yes, I realize it doesn't really look like her. My intent when I started the drawing was just to get one that I could use as a base for a mixed media painting in the style of Kellie Rae Roberts or D.J. Pettit. Of course, I have a lot of good intentions, too many and too scattered, I suppose. But sometimes blogging about some of this helps me to remember it later and to actually follow through with the intention.




In general, non-art, life news, I am about to embark upon a new phase of my working career. I have accepted job offer that just came up with Diatherix Laboratories in Huntsville. You can click on the link to see what the lab does. So, for the first time since becoming a lab tech, I will be working in a non-hospital setting. I can't even get my head around how different it will be yet. I do know that I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders, so I would hope that is a sign that I've made the right decision. My present job at Hartselle involves me working by myself almost the entire 12 hour shift, putting me in some very difficult and stressful situations at times. I just turned 49 and I feel like it was taking years off of my life working like that. I had been praying that God would help me find where I needed to be and if possible a job where I could be off on Sundays. This job presented itself, with the schedule being dayshift, Tuesday through Saturdays and all holidays off. I can't really even comprehend being off every Sunday and on all holidays. I will have to drive to Huntsville, but was already driving 30 minutes one way to Hartselle. Two of my former coworkers at Woodland are working at Diatherix and were the ones that told me about the job opening. We will be able to car pool sometimes, if we want to,so that will help some.

Referring back to my earlier post about "light through the trees", I do believe the light is growing and that I feel like my feet are actually resting completely on the bottom so that I am going to be able to start walking toward that shallow water and maybe even up on dry ground.

More fabric work and pics of my sweet grandson

I have done a little something artsy. I finished another fabric cuff, just practicing with some scraps I have. I am going to do a one-to-one cuff swap with my friend, Beth, but the one I finished is not the one for her, so I won't mind sharing it here. I also will be participating in a Halloween atc swap that Beth is hostessing, so will be working on those this week while I'm off.

Not been a great week around this house. My hubby has the swine flu and has been sick over a week. He started feeling bad last Monday and is still not up to par, although he did go back to work today. With him, it ended affecting his breathing the most. The doctor gave him an inhaler and the Tamiflu. He doesn't smoke and never has, but he is kind of allergy-prone, so maybe that is why the lung symptoms were worse for him? Thankfully I've not come down with it so far(knock on wood).

Of course, I'm always going to have baby pics to share these days. Those of you friends with me on Facebook will have already seen these, but here they are anyway. Some I took last weekend. The bath pic is one Emily sent me this weekend. Emily had to go back to work yesterday and I've not gotten to talk to her with me work schedule and her's conflicting to find out how that went. I know it was hard for them.

In news of my other daughter, one of my most faithful readers, Holly found a job in the school system in Texas although not as a teacher yet. With their move during the summer, it didn't leave her much time to get papers transferred and certifications for that state, also. She got an aide position with the special education program(not sure if that is still what they call it, probably not in this day of political correctness)at the fifth grade level. At least it got her foot in the door and in place with the state school systems.