Camping trip is on!

Was tentatively planning on it starting tomorrow through Monday, but I had forgotten Kerry's Dad's knee surgery is on Monday. So, we are pulling out with the camper today, so that I can get some time away to rest, relax, and reflect. This is the first time we will have camped this year, besides the trip earlier to the races in Bristol, TN. Poor hubby won't get to stay all the time as he has jobs that have to be done here on the farm but he hopes to be up there the evenings and most of the weekend. We'll be coming back on Sunday.

I just got off from my work week, so I'm busily working on getting the camper packed up when I thought I might better post on here in case I don't get time to find some internet. I'm taking my computer, thinking that I might go catch a Wi-Fi connection somewhere or perhaps the park might have it by now. If not, I'll be back online come Sunday evening to respond to any messages.

I'm packing up some art supplies, books, movies, & magazines. I always take too much STUFF, but a girl needs to have options! I may not go anywhere but where we are camping I also could visit some shops or thrift stores if the mood strikes me. The doggies are going, of course, so I'll have company when Kerry is not there.

Still not received my shipment from Amazon with the book. I'm impatiently waiting! Wish it would get here before we leave. I'll be posting pics of my project when I get back.

Notes from the Universe

I signed up for these inspirational emails from here after seeing it mentioned on someone's blog. Sorry, I don't remember whose because it was one of those times where I clicked here and then there and then here and ... well, you know how it goes if you read many blogs, lol. I wanted to share one that I love:

"Some things should be done just for the fun of it. Not because they're inexpensive, practical, organic, logical, fashionable, modest, brilliant, green, expected, proper, spiritual, thinning, fattening, prudent, or allergen-smoke-chemical free."

Isn't that a great reminder!?! Children have no trouble with this. How do we lose this ability to do something "just because"? So, sometime this week, at least, do something just for fun.

BTW, when you sign up for the emails, the program asks you for some information about your dreams so that when the emails come they are somewhat personalized. I've enjoyed receiving them. Very often they bring a smile to my face just from the content of the message or from the funny way "the Universe" signs off such as the signature for the above message which was "please supersize me, The Universe".

Posting update, pics added

I've not had time to get pics uploaded which is one of the reasons I've not posted lately even though there is much going on right now. After being berated by Holly about no new posts, I'd thought I would go ahead and get one up here even without a photo, which I may try to add later.(ok, I've added a couple of Maggie so you can see her)

Holly and Chris are now in Waco, Texas. I helped them get packed up Wednesday,13th, along with my 2 nephews, and Emily's hubby, Craig. Holly and Chris left out early Thursday morning with one of the twins, Tad. Kerry was not able to get away from the farm until Thursday evening due to water leaks, etc, etc. which put us on the road ALL NIGHT, not arriving in Waco until 7 am on Friday morning. My other nephew, Ty, came along with Kerry and me to also help. We took a short nap and then were up to get their stuff unloaded. Don't know what we all would have done without the help of Ty and Tad(and my son-in-law, Craig, in getting the van loaded). We were fortunate as well that Chris has a cousin who will be living a couple of miles from them and he brought his foster sons over Friday afternoon to assist in unloading the Uhaul. We woke up Saturday to a day of rain, so if the truck had not already been unloaded it would have been a mess. So thanks go out to several young men!

Holly and Chris were allowed to repaint. They decided to do so and also to strip wallpaper from the 2 bathrooms which were sadly dated(we are talking faded blue and mauve floral print). Of course, this had to be done before stuff could be moved in. They stayed up most of the night Thursday after they got there and then we all worked together Friday and Saturday to get everything done and most of their stuff unpacked. Sunday we finished the unpacking and then got pictures hung and knick-knacks out. It was a marathon of DIY, unpacking, and decorating. We fell into bed exhausted Sunday evening and then got up Monday morning for a tearful goodbye to head back to Alabama. We drove to Tuscaloosa to leave the boys at their apartment and to pick up our doggies, Max and Maggie, from Emily's house.

Emily and Craig were really glad to see us! Maggie and their dog, Coal, had bonded and being very active dogs had played themselves silly. Poor Max thought they were fighting, so he kept trying to intervene and would try to get between Maggie and Coal creating a 3 ring circus, lol!

Still need to get some pics up here of Maggie. She is a mess! Sweet, but into everything! It's like having a manic 2 year old in the house. I found a chewed plug end the other day and have yet to figure out what it went to. Hopefully nothing vital. I've lost several house shoes, multiple pens, some book covers, magazines, etc. She will even chew on aluminum cans!

I've been having to hold back on some news on the art front for some time. I was involved in an art project that was submitted for publication in LK Ludwig's newest book, Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media. This was months ago and while we had been told the project was included in the book, I wasn't sure if my part would be. The book is now out and evidently my work is mentioned. I'll be posting more about this later on. I've ordered the book from Amazon and will be able to tell you more for sure after I receive it. I do have scans of the art I made for this that I did before I sent them off but, of course, couldn't share them until the book was published. For now you can read what Deb Lewis, the group coordinator has posted about on her blog, Vintage Moon Studio.

This is the first time anything I've done has been published, so I'm excited to say the least. I've been too cowardly to submit anything or just not taken the time to do so. Deb was very instrumental in getting the group to get their projects ready for submission, so really I've her to thank for this.

Other things I've not really blogged about include gifts for Mother's Day from the girls which were a painting done by Holly and some pretty potted flowers from Emily and graduation pics from 2 weeks ago. Will try to get some of these posted soon. Also, I've not forgotten that I promised to do a one year anniversary giveaway, I just keep putting it on the back burner. I'll have to come up with another name for it when I do get around to doing it.

Oriental tags

Here are the tags I made for our recent tag swap on the atc_yahoo group. The scans weren't the greatest. I still had some tags leftover from a previous art project that had been aged with coffee, so that's how these started out. Above is the front and back of one of them and below the same for the other. We were supposed to decorate both sides. For the one with the woman on it, I collaged a piece of a pretty soap wrapper and then a stamped image which was hand-colored with pencils and pens. Also, some layers of color around the image with more stamping with extra color on the tag itself from several stamp pads just dabbed here and there before and after the collaging was done. Embellishments are flower brads, handcut and folded paper leaves, Oriental coin at the top with the fibers. For the back, I collaged some torn papers for the hills below the temple charm glued over a paper scrap and added a strip of ribbon to finish it off.

The butterfly tag below was a prettier color than shows up here, especially the orangey fabric strip in the fibers on top. I tried to color-correct it,but couldn't seem to get it right, maybe because it was a silk-type fabric with a little bit of a sheen. The front and back central images are from some stamps I have also colored with markers and pencils to enhance them some more. Again, overall used several different stamp pads to add more color. The butterfly was a printed image. I used some of the Sakura gel pens for extra color on the butterfly and the moon and bamboo and then decided some stippling with a black fine-tipped marker would add some depth around the back image.

Not sure if I'll have computer time or access until next week. I work one more night and then will be going down tomorrow, Wednesday, to help get the Uhaul packed up for Holly and Chris. Then we'll be leaving out on Thursday headed to Waco, Texas to get them settled in there. Kerry is coming down to Tuscaloosa on Thursday to pick me up so I can ride with him, after he gets some work down in the chicken houses that he needs to get done before leaving the farm with his Dad. The plan is for us to stay until Monday. I"m going to take my laptop, I think, in case there is come wireless internet available somewhere that I can use to check in here and to check email, but you never know if there will be time to do so and if I'll be able to find it.

Another beautiful tag

This one I received a few days ago, but I've not had time to blog about it. It was made by Jane Widman, from New York, who is another friend from the atc-group on yahoo. She was also one of the first people I swapped art with and is a very talented artist. The first atc's I received from her were all individually hand-drawn. Jane has since branched out to try collage. This tag is a lovely example of Jane's gorgeous work. Above are scans of the front and back of the main tag and then below is the sweet little tag tucked into the pocket, which is a little work of art all on it's own. I was a very lucky recipient in this tag swap! Thanks, Jane!

I've not heard yet if the tags I sent out were received. I hope so. I did scan them before mailing, but the scans turned out kind of dark. After showing the beautiful ones I received, I'm kind of hesitant about showing mine, but I will when I get time to post about it. They were Oriental in theme.

Life has been kind of crazy this past week, so that my time off just flew by, not allowing much time at home, much less time to be on the computer. The kids were home this weekend for a little while. My in-laws wanted to have a going away/graduation party for Holly and Chris. Then I went down Sunday evening and stayed until Monday evening to help Holly pack. Emily was off and my MIL went down, too, so the 4 of us were able to get a good bit done. Also, I volunteered to help out with a costume/drama committee at church and we've gotten together a couple of times during this past week. I let them know up front that I don't really sew. I was thinking I'd work on props or do handwork, but I'm proud to say I did sit down at a sewing machine and sew the edges down on a couple of belts. Maybe that will be enough to help me get over my fear of failure and enable me to get my machine out and attempt some art quilting when time allows.

Oh, yes, we also got another doggy during this week. Sorry, no pics yet as my camera batteries were dead and I just got some more yesterday. I had time to take a few pics, but not to get them uploaded to the computer or to post. I wasn't really ready for another pet at this time, but Kerry was. He insisted we go by Pet Depot Saturday to see the pups they had there from the shelter and we drove to the shelter to see the ones there. We ended up going back to the pet store and bringing home Miss Maggie, who posed her way into our hearts and our home. She is a one year old Jack Russell terrier mix who looks like a black/white border collie that started growing and then quit. Her hair is not slick short, but then not as long as a collie's either. Maggie is really sweet, but also a stinker. It's kind of like having a 2 year old in the house again. As soon as you turn your back, she's sneaking around and getting into something. I joked with Holly that this is one way to declutter. So far she's chewed the handle off of a shabby chic basket I had lotions stored in the bedroom and somehow managed to get a beeswax candle off the piano(? how this happened) and chew part of it up. So far no shoes have bit the dust, but a couple of magazines and a bottle of powder have. She is an attention hog so that we are having to really work to make sure Max gets some love, too. I'll be sure to get some pics of her on here when I have time. It is going to be hard to get a good shot of her since she hardly ever stops moving.

Not sure how much posting I'll get done here over the next week. I'm taking off work the next couple of evenings for Chris and Holly's graduation on Saturday. Holly is graduating Magna Cum Laude from the College of Education at the University of Alabama and Chris is getting his degree in Business. We are very proud of both of them! Then after I work off on Wednesday morning, we'll be going back to Tuscaloosa, loading a Uhaul with their stuff, and then leaving early on Thursday headed for Waco, Texas. Chris will be attending seminary there and Holly will hopefully begin her teaching career. They have found an apartment which Holly wants us to help her paint some of the rooms in before we get their stuff moved in. After helping them get settled in as much as possible, we'll be on our way back to Alabama, either on Sunday or Monday. I keep telling them I'm getting to old for this moving business, but they don't seem to be listening!

Lots of momentous events in our lives recently and to look forward to in our future. I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Most of the time I'm ok, just taking one day at a time, but then sometimes it will feel overwhelming and I'll give in to a little cry. But that's all right, I'm gonna laugh and enjoy the fun parts of the ride, too!

Lovely mail yesterday!

This piece of art in tag form was made by Diane Tisch who is the atc_group on yahoo. She has been a member of this group for awhile, even when it was an MSN group, and was one of the earliest people I swapped atc's with. Diane was also really supportive when my oldest dd, Emily, was in the group during a difficult time in Em's life and I appreciate her so much for that. Her work is always so beautiful and so well-done.

I've been working on the 2 tags I'm doing for this swap and will be mailing them out tomorrow. Just worked off my 7 day stretch this morning. We will be fairly busy the next few weeks. Holly and Chris are graduating from college on May 9th which is a Saturday right in the middle of my next work week. I asked off for Friday and Saturday and some of my coworkers have been kind enough to fill in for me so I can attend her graduation. Then the following Wednesday, we'll be heading down to Tuscaloosa to help Chris and Holly pack up to move out to Waco, Texas on Thursday, 14th. I, at least will be riding or driving out there to help them for a few days. Hopefully Kerry will be able to go as well, depending on how his Dad is doing. I am glad to report my Mom is doing great since her arthroscopic knee surgery. Her left knee is pain-free enough that she is able to walk around much better and she is even still having a small amount of improvement in her stroke arm enabling her to do a few more tasks by herself, like her laundry. She has to take her time, but it is probably good therapy really for stroke recovery.

Some of my mantras

I have a tendency to let others make me feel inferior. To try to overcome these feelings I have started saying some mantras to myself. I don't always remember to do this and I'll catch myself in a mind set where I am letting other people make me feel that way again, sometimes for a long period of time, before I wake up and realize it is happening and remind myself to repeat my phrases. They are not always these same words and it may seem silly, but I've found it helps me to refocus and to regain some self confidence. I decided I wanted to record these here, partially to remind me if I need it and then maybe someone else might find it helpful.

BTW, if you are one of the people who find that the easiest way to make yourself feel better is by putting someone else down or pointing out the fault of others, you need to realize the harm you might be doing. I think we all may do this from time to time. I realize I am guilty of this myself. I'm trying to do better in this regard. We all need to remember that no one is perfect and ask ourselves, one day if we make a mistake, do we want those around us to be glad to see us down or to be there with a hand to help us up? I think sometimes rather than trying to make yourself feel better by criticizing it has just become a bad habit to do so rather than compliment. Also, I'm sure that at times I might be misreading what someone means, but regardless of intent, I still seem to be talented at making myself feel unworthy or less worthy than others. Isn't it amazing all the "stuff" that swims around in our heads? Or maybe it is just me?

So anyway, here is what I say to myself, silly as it may be:

Do not let others rob you of joy.
I am important and special to God.
My feelings and opinions are valid AND of as much worth as those belonging to others.
Do not let others bring you down.

Ok, my little sermonette for the day.

Our sweet Angel is now an angel

Even when you know it is coming and you know they are better off, it is still really hard to let them go. Angel had been having trouble getting around since last year. The vet had us try glucosamine supplements, which did help some, I guess, but lately it was getting harder for her to get back up if she slipped down on the hardwood floors as her hip joints were bad and then even her front leg was bothering her this week. Her vision was getting really bad. During this last few months, we had been debating taking her to the vet to have her put to sleep, but it would seem like that about the time we thought maybe we should, she would get better for a time. Starting Tuesday she was very restless and couldn't seem to ever get settled down. She kept falling down and then started getting really sick during the night. We were going to take her to the vet today, but Kerry called me at work to let me know she had passed on. I was able to hold her a lot yesterday and tell her how special she was and how much we loved her. I hope she understood. Kerry had her next to him in the bed when she died. Kerry was crazy about Angel. He's not one to be emotional, but he was about this little dog.

We were not really sure how old Angel was as Emily rescued her from the animal shelter in Tuscaloosa about 7 years ago, I think it was. The shelter told Em that Angel was about 8 or 9, so if that was right, she was about 16 years or so. She had evidently been in a bad home before as her hair was so matted that they had to shave it off and she was skin and bones basically. Her hip had been broken at some point and never set so that she always walked with a limp. So she probably lost some years off of her life from malnutrition and abuse. You could tell she had been hungry by how fast she would eat any treats you gave, as if she was starving to death. How anyone was ever mean to this precious Angel I will never know. She hardly ever barked and while she loved to be petted if you weren't paying attention to her, she would go off and lay down to sleep. I don't think I've ever seen a sweeter animal.

She was a little thing, but I still remember when we first got her how she would get a run and go to jump up on the couch to sit with us and hopefully get a belly rub, her favorite thing. We have pictures of her sitting with her eyes closed in bliss while someone rubs her stomach as in this shot.



I think I've explained before how we came to have her at our house. Emily decided she wanted a pet while she was in college. After a while, she realized that she and her room mate weren't home enough to care for a pet properly, so Angel came to stay with Mom and Dad. Later on, when Emily probably could have taken her back, Kerry wouldn't hear of it, as he had become attached to her by then. Even our other dog, Max, loves her. If I ever went to let him out to do his business, but didn't have Angel with me to take her out as well, Max would just sit down and look at me until I went to get Angel, too. He's probably not going to know what to think.



Bye, sweet thing!

Catching up and thrifting goodies

Sorry to not be blogging that much. Time seems to get away from me. I've spent some of my off time at the end of last week trying to get caught up on laundry and getting rid of a few clothes as I go through them. Also, been trying to clean up the art room some, at least the work table. I have a list of projects that I want to get done, some big, some little. Most involve decluttering or cleaning. The others are bigger ones like finishing up our remodeling efforts in the kitchen and utility room. I figure if I get a little done here and there it will eventually add up. Of course, I would love it if my screened in porch were ever completed. My dh promises we will work on at least the roof when we get back from getting Holly and Chris moved to Texas in May. To give him a little break, he is working a part time job in addition to the farm and his Dad has been limited in what he can do since his recent back surgery, so hubby has more to do than usual.

Have been able to get in a few thrift store shopping expeditions. These trips are stress relief for me and much needed after last week at work. I've gotten some great buys with several nice tops and 2 like new pairs of Izod pants. Found a couple maternity jeans for Emily. These finds were from the Salvation Army in Cullman where I also got a great deal on a king size Ralph Lauren comforter cover AND bedskirt for $10. It's a lovely floral bark cloth(I think) or a nubby linen that you can see in a close up. We have a formal looking blue comforter on the bed now, but I'd like to be able to have something less fussy for a change. Got a few other deals as well, including some hand crocheted wash clothes and this vintage Mexican floral curtain panel shown in the photo at the bottom. I've not taken pics of everything.


We went down on Saturday to take a baby bed down to Emily and Craig that my sister in law gave them and some boxes to Holly and Chris so they can start packing to get ready to move:( Holly and Chris were out of town attending one of his cousin's weddings in South Alabama so we didn't get to see them. The main reason we went down was so Kerry could go to the scrimmage game at the U. of Ala. Craig also went to the game. Emily was working. I did go by to see her at work, but then also killed some time thrifting, of course. Thomas has some more clothes now. I couldn't resist a pair of cute olive green overalls in 3-6 months and a few other items for him. I have a Santa mug and pitcher collection, most of which was given to me by my MIL. I try to add mugs when I find good ones. Got one Saturday for 50 cents that is really unique and has a face on each side. Other goodies included a small classical statuette in white and a cute Made In Japan relish tray. Then take a look at this starched-beyond-belief pink and white doily. I scanned it so you could see it up close. It's an odd shape that you can see in the blurry photo. Perhaps it was made to put at the top of a chair back? I'm not sure if I'll ever get all that starch out, but it was only $1.50 and it was begging to be rescued. For $2 I got a new Christmas framing set by Colorbok that I don't plan on using as is. The kit includes an 8x8" canvas which will hopefully be used for a mixed media painting and then I'll have the scrapbooking paper, metal name plate and other embellishments for other projects. Oh, yes, I bought 2 cute purses. Those are at the back of one of the shots.





We also got a little yard work done here and then I spent Friday afternoon at Mom's cleaning up sticks from recent storms before her mowing guy got there and will be going back today to her house to finish up some other work in her flower beds. We've been lucky to have made it through recent storms without much damage. I lost my only remaining rose bush last week. It was like it was just plucked up out of the ground and thrown out in the yard.

I hope to get some art time in here maybe tomorrow. I think I'll just have to give myself permssion to be all right with doing that. The problem with having a to-do list for me is that I then feel guilty if I'm not doing something on the list. Ok, I'm seeing what I need to do and that is put "make some art" on the list. Maybe that will help with the guilt thing. Why are women so good at making ourselves feel guilty about stuff like this? Do you ever see a guy worrying about making time for what he wants to do vs. housework? Not my guy, anyway!

Easter at our house and OWOH giveaway received

It's has been a crazy week. Very busy at work and then lots going on outside of work with it being Easter. Our church choir presented an Easter musical. The girls participated in the presentation, so they came home for that as well as to visit for Easter along with their hubbies. Friday morning I had to find time to get some food in the house, as we had a pretty bare cupboard. Friday evening we had dress rehearsal for the choir. Emily's birthday was the 13th, Monday, so we kind of had a birthday supper for her Saturday evening since they were going to be back home on the day of her birthday. I woke up to the smell of food cooking. The kids fixed supper which was lovely and then we had birthday cake for Emily. Now that I think back on it, Emily had to help fix her own birthday supper, bless her heart.

The pics of the family were taken Easter Sunday after we got home from church and before I went to bed to try to get some sleep in. The shot with me in it exemplifies why you don't see many photos of me. I am so not photogenic. It was a very windy day as you can see. A very handsome bunch, I think, excepting my mug. Emily is starting to look pregnant and glowing. She's almost 6 months now. Hard to believe time is flying by this fast. We are going to have a busy summer, what with Holly and Chris moving in May and then little Thomas making his debut in August.

Also, thought I'd show my 2 last minute Easter displays. Friday I was cleaning up the house some and decided the house would be a little more welcoming and festive for the kid's visits with some decorations. I've collected bunnies on and off over the years so one grouping shows several of those. The middle bunny dish is sitting on a cedar plank that my Dad once cut for me(I've 2 of these) and that I love to use in decorating. The other photo shows the dining table centerpiece where I used an old lamb planter that used to belong to my grandmother surrounded by my Capidomonte rose candlesticks with pastel Easter eggs instead of candles and then a couple of cute egg holders and little chick I found at the thrift store recently.

During this busy weekend, I received my other OWOH giveaway from Susan at A Drawer Full of Dreams blog. I LOVE the hand-knitted cap. She knitted this just for me after finding out my favorite color. The blue yarn is so soft, you just wouldn't believe, and this shade of blue is just gorgeous! Her wonderful prizes included a landscape sketch/journal handbook which I hope will jumpstart my recent wish to get back into drawing. Also included are a lovely art card, entitled Gift From the Sea, and then a book by Elizabeth Berg, The Pull of the Moon, which promises to be very inspiring and that I'm looking forward to reading. I just love everything! Thanks so much, Susan!

Thrifting finds

Found last week at the Salvation Army. Not shown is a really cute baby boy quilt that I got for only $1. Emily has already taken it home with her. It will be a good floor quilt and had a cute, colorful design of planes, cars, and trucks and was like new. Shown above in the slightly dark photo are the other goodies that never look quite as exciting as they really are. On the left is a cute patchwork bag that I am seeing altered up, maybe some Teesha Moore style of embroidery and embellishments, definitely a new strap, and a closure flap to brighten it up. It's kind of a strange mix of a 1980's look with some older vintage fabrics, but I couldn't pass it up at only $1. At bottom are 2 cute vintage pillowcases for only a quarter each. Also, on the right, a couple of fabric remnants that were also only $1. I found more wooden plaques for 50 cents each(I had gotten some a few weeks ago). These would be good bases for porcelain or ceramic figurines or great for altering or decoupaging. Underneath those are some wooden boxes. These were $1 for the bigger ones and 50 cents for the smaller. I'm thinking they could even be taken apart to use as shadow boxes. The cute little bucket wasn't from the thrift store, but a recent meal out with friends. Their dessert was little cheesecakes in little pots in the buckets. You get to keep the buckets and they gave me one. It would be cute with Easter grass and an Easter egg.

I went to the thrift store hunting baby stuff, but you can see that I can't pass up other great stuff/junk when I see it. Now, if I only get around to doing something with it all. No luck with baby clothes. Most of what was there was for little girls. I did get some cute outfits recently at a Kid's Mart event which is like a giant consignment/yard sale held twice per year. We also got a bouncy seat. Never had heard of a bouncy seat until this baby was on the way. Those had not been invented when my girls were babies, but evidently they are a great thing for little ones according to what I've been told. A couple of friends at work have also given us some outfits for Thomas already. I didn't think to take pictures of the baby clothes and they've already gone home with Emily.



Next I'm showing one of my pieces from my collection of restaurant ware. Isn't this cup so cute? Not sure of the name of the pattern, but it's Walker China and I like it. It wasn't from this thrifting trip but another. I'm showing it to talk about some recent experiments with food. Yes, sometimes I have the mind of a mad scientist.

Experiment #1: I have the Celestial Seasons Sugar Cookie tea that I bought at Christmas. It's pretty good. Now I was thinking that maybe it would be good to sweeten it with sprinkles. You know, like sugar cookies. Well, not so good. The sprinkles don't all melt. Well, duh, they are designed to stay on top of a baked cookie and still look cute. Plus, the ones that did melt turned the tea a funky color, though the taste was not so bad.

Experiment #2: I love to put cheese in my soup once in the bowl. One day earlier this week, I had warmed myself up some chunky chicken noodle soup only to realize that we are out of any hard cheese because someone needs to get to the grocery store. Desperate for cheese, my mad scientist brain kicks in and I remember that I have blue cheese sprinkles in the freezer that I keep there for salads. Hhmm, worth a try. Also, I keep some grated Parmesan in there so I threw a little of both in the bowl. Yuumm! This experiment was successful! Very good flavor!

Experiment #3: I love me some Diet Mountain Dew. Now I guess I could be addicted, but I choose to not explore that possibility too much. I have tried adding a little OJ to my Dew before and that's good. This week I had some grapefruit/orange juice so I tried adding a little of that. This experiment was also successful. Of course, you'd have to be someone that likes grapefruit juice, but if you do, it's worth trying. I'm sure this like a juice spritzer or something that. Having grown up in the rural South, I've not been exposed to many social occasions to know. We'll just call this a Redneck Grapefruit Dew Spritzer.

Well, back to work tonight. I just realized that a full moon is coming up. The ER is usually much busier at a full moon, so keep your fingers crossed that not too much crazy stuff happens.

I have done something creative lately

Over the last couple of weeks, I've worked on this fabric necklace. This started with the flower. I saw the idea of taking the silk flower and sewing it to a felt base in one of the Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines. (Unfortunately, I don't remember which issue as I have every one of them and almost all of the Somerset Studio magazines AND numerous other Somerset publications AND lots of art and craft books. I'm not addicted to buying them. NO, really! I'm sure I could go months and months without purchasing an art magazine or book if I really wanted to!.... Let's hurry and go back to the original subject, shall we.) I had also seen in another of the CPS issues where this artist had made these lovely necklaces with fabric tubes, beads, and other goodies. Again, I can't recall which artist or issue, but if I do run across it again, I'll be sure to post and point you toward the articles/artists. Being as I still haven't gotten up the nerve to set up my sewing machine to try to conquer my sewing machine phobia, I wanted to do adapt this project to what I could do by hand.



The flower itself, has purple, pink and white petals that you can't really see in the scan of the entire necklace, so I made another of it all squooshed up where you can see the under layers. If I were younger, prettier, more photogenic, and had my hair combed and make up on, I would have modeled the necklace in one of those self-portrait shots. Since I'm none of those things, you are gonna have to settle for these scanned views. For the necklace part I used various torn fabric strips, fibers, and ribbons tied or sewn together accented with beads, buttons, or fabric bows.

I actually got up the nerve to wear it yesterday. You know when you make something like this, there is always the fear that other people will just look at it and see a mess of torn fabric. I have that same feeling about everything I make really. Emily was home visting yesterday and she reminded me of what I would always tell them, which is "why are you worried about what other people think?". Yeah, sometimes your own words get thrown back at you, lol! So, I wore it with a pink top, pink linen cropped pants and a blue jean jacket. I got a couple of compliments and some second glances. So I'm sure there were those wondering, "what the heck?" But, oh well, I like it.

Edited 4/9/09 Ok, I found the respective articles that provided the inspiration. The flower is from the Sew Somerset book of Winter, 2009 and is found on page 19 with the artist being Leigh Houston. Also on that page is a necklace not done like mine, but where I got the idea for sewing my flower on the type necklace I was doing. The artist for the flower and bead necklace is Gaye Collins. My fabric necklace version was inspired by an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors, Issue 17, March/April 2008, pages 66-71. The artist featured in this article is Tina Givens and her necklace on page 69 is most like the one I did. I didn't even have the article with me when I was working on the necklace, so I am surprised at how much like it this one it turned out to be. My subconcious memory is better than I thought, lol! Like I said, she uses fabric tubes that I didn't use because I was avoiding the sewing machine.

Pictures from Bristol race

I got them uploaded to the computer and thought I'd share a few. I didn't go to any of the races, but Holly took my camera with her on Sunday and took some great photos of the track. She took the top 2 shots of the entire track and the one of the turn closest to where they sat. I'm showing this one to try to give you an idea of how steep the bank is to the track. She got a lot of great shots, but I'm just showing 2 of them.

I did go over on Saturday morning to walk around the advertising booths, etc. set up around the outside of the track. That's where I took the pic of Jimmy Spencer speaking to the crowd and Holly got close enough to get a good one of Kyle Petty(one of my favorite drivers) who was at a TV broadcast setup. There were fireworks on Saturday evening and I got some decent shots of those. If I knew more about my camera I could probably have done better. What's funny is that the shots of the fireworks never look like what you just saw. Also, showing one of what the track looks like at night from where we camp.

Just realized there are no people pics, so I'm editing this post to add a couple. One shows my hubby sitting watching the grill(looks like he's praying) which is on the ground and Jason in front of our RV at the campsite. The other shows me, Holly, and Dawn on Saturday by the track. Dawn and Jason are big time race fans who got Kerry hooked on going to Bristol and North Carolina.

Coincidence?

Right now clover is growing like crazy here. Anytime I see a big patch of it, I think of my Dad. He would always stop and look for four leaf clovers and find them, sometimes several. I guess he had an eye for seeing the differences in the patterns of the growth. I remember him doing that my whole life.

Today I was outside spray painting a recent thrift store find(one of those metal sap buckets). While I was waiting for the first coat of paint to dry, I walked around in the backyard looking down at the clover patches. Of course this made me remember my Dad. Now, I've never had a talent for finding the lucky clovers. I'll look and look and never see them. When Dad was still alive, we'd look together and he'd find 2 or 3 while I'd never see the first one. I would press his finds in books on my bookshelf. After he was diagnosed with Alzheimers and had gotten pretty bad, I found one of them and put it in a frame. It's faded now, but I plan to use it in a shrine I'm going to do about my Dad. One of life's ironies, I guess, my Dad being lucky finding four leaf clovers, but being unlucky enough to end up with such a sad disease. Well, I digress, as I often do. To get back to today, while I visually searched the patterns of the clover, I was thinking about my Dad and how much I miss him. Wondering whether he could look down from heaven and see. Thinking it would nice to have a sign that he could. Immediately after I thought that, I unbelievably spotted this four leaf clover.Coincidence? I don't know.

Not thinking

This is an atc I did several years ago which I sent out in a swap. Sorry for the bad scan, but this goes along with my rant for the day. On the way home this morning from work, I saw yet again a driver doing this one thing that makes me so mad! He didn't endanger me, but only because I was a little farther back in the lane I was driving in. Maybe the laws have changed since I took driver's ed many years ago and if they have, someone please fill me in. I'll see if I can explain this where it makes sense. What I'm talking about, is when you are either stopped at a red light or approaching an intersection where the light is changing from red to green(what happened to me today) and the driver(s) in the left turn lane opposite you in the intersection decide it is ok to go ahead and turn across in front of you just because they THINK there will be enough time to do this since you have been stopped or slowed and will have to accelerate. Does that make sense? They don't have a turn arrow obviously or you would not have a green light. I know in intersections with no left turn arrow, you can turn left WHEN NOTHING IS COMING but the ones I'm talking about are those where people are sitting in a turn lane with a red light. There is one in particular that I travel through all the time that is where a 4 lane highway crosses over an interstate and the traffic light is at both ends of the bridge. People are constantly turning in front of me to get onto the interstate, sometimes more than one car at a time, like this. I've even had them look at me, like "what are you doing, lady?" HHHmmm, I think I was proceeding legally through an intersection with a green light! What are you doing, you goofballs?

OK, rant's over. Like I said, if I've missed some traffic law change, I would appreciate being told.

Giveaways

No, I've not gotten my act together yet for my own anniversary giveaway, so I'm going to point you in the direction of some others. Jean at Bluebirds Living in the Meadow is having a lovely giveaway. I learned of it by checking in Jann's blog, A Vintage Heart. Jean is offering some wonderful goodies as shown above-books, beads, and beautiful art pieces.

Also, from perusing Jann's blog, I learned of another giveaway by Kristin of Retro Cafe Art of some gorgeous paper cuts and collage sheets. Go check them out! She had several photos in her giveaway post so I didn't copy one of them here.

It's a boy!

Emily and Craig found out today that the baby is a boy. I didn't care either way, boy or girl, so I would have been thrilled with whatever they said. I grew up with only brothers, so I always thought I'd have little boys, since that is what I knew about, never really being a girly-girl. When I was expecting my babies, they wouldn't tell you for sure so I didn't know what mine were until they were born. I guess God wanted me to experience raising baby girls and sisters on top of that since he blessed up with our 2 daughters. My daughters definitely are a blessing and I wouldn't trade them for all the money in the world. I think God gives us what we are meant to have. So we will be awaiting Thomas Jeffery Nolen to make an appearance at the beginning of August.

P.S. This is not a family photo, just a vintage picture of a little boy that I thought was cute and might resemble our future grand baby. It's hard to find a vintage photo that you are sure is a little boy, since they all used to wear dresses until a certain age.

Ties That Bind project doll completed

The doll has been completed and pictures are now posted on the Ties That Bind blog. By checking out that post, you will be able to see a link to a photo gallery with several great shots of the doll. This amazing doll with all of the altered ties and charms contributed by numerous artists will be having a photo shoot and then will be raffled off with all proceeds going to ovarian cancer research. I will post all details as I learn of them so that those of you who would like to purchase tickets for the raffle will be able to do so. The doll artist was Jan Brown and then Aileen Roberts and Kris Henderson have also been instrumental in this project from making the bird cage to doing a lot of coordinating and behind the scenes work, as well as maintaining the blog AND a yahoo group. Didn't Jan do such awesome job on the doll! Then all the ties, charms, birdcage, just all of it so wonderful! On the left side of the blog is a list of contributing artists and the blog itself has pictures of all the charms and ties as they were received faithfully posted as the project progressed.

I'm showing the scans of my 2 charms and then I borrowed from the Ties That Bind blog(hope that was ok) pictures of the doll and one of the pics that shows both of my charms in one shot. If I find out I shouldn't have done this, I'll remove the photos from here and just direct you to those at the project blog. Be sure to check it out anyway, as it is the best way to see all the charms and ties up close and to see which artists did what. There were many wonderful stories sent in with the artwork that I hope get published somewhere. Lots of meaning behind each piece of art. I deem it an honor to have been able to contribute. This is a link to my original post here on my blog where I explained some of my thought process behind the charms I created. Here is some of my explanation that I posted to the yahoo group about the family members who died from cancer that I wanted to remember with my contributions:

I don't have any family members who have had ovarian cancer, except perhaps my great grandmother and they are not sure if that is what she had or not. Back then they didn't know things like that. I have had several family members die from cancer though. So these charms are in memory of them. The list includes:

Both of my grandmothers, one from complications from breast cancer and the other from metasticized colon cancer

My mother's oldest sister, from lung/liver cancer

That same aunt's only child, her daughter, from metastatic breast cancer, and my aunt's husband from a brain tumor. One of my cousin's 2 sons ended up committing suicide as a teenager, so I count him as a victim as well.

My Mom's only brother from metastatic skin cancer

Please help spread the word, especially as the raffle time nears, so that this will be as successful as it can be to help in the fight against this silent and deadly killer.