Back in The Groove

I've been gone for a few weeks, and just now getting settled back into a normal routine. I spent a good amount of time making preparations for both my parents birthdays,invitations, gathering photos, and making them each something special. My sister and I planned a big combined celebration for them, since their birthdays are only 4 days apart. It was a mini-family reunion, so we got to see lots of Aunts, Uncles, cousins that we hadn't seen in a good long while. We had over 40 people show up for the party/open house. We also had an entire week of celebrating, going to dinner at relatives homes, out for breakfast for both Mom and Dad. We had an excess of everything...coffee, sugar, food. It was all great fun, lots of laughs. Now we are all trying to detox our bodies!

Here are a couple of the things I made for my parents birthdays.

12x12 framed and embellished.


Hanging canvas. I cut the stencil for the cowboy from a photo my Mom took of my Dad a number of years ago.

Back of canvas

stealing JUNK mail?

This is hilarious. I saw this story yesterday, and feel I should pass along a warning to all my artist friends. This is how it starts... First we like to make collages. And we all like to recycle. So we start saving scraps of wrapping paper, candy wrappers, bits and pieces of things most people toss in the trash. ETC.ETC.ETC. You KNOW what I mean. Then we start eyeing the junk mail that comes into the house and think.."I really should use this instead of tossing it, I can make it into something artful and lovely." And we do. So, before long we are asking the neighbor and the family to save their junk mail for us. Then before we know it.........We are renting a storage locker!
Go Here
Of course this weird story happened in Texas. I can't help but notice that a lot of crazy things that make the news happen here. I'm sure they happen in other states, but every time I see a headline that is particularly crazy, I think..oh no, don't let it be Texas again. I do think at least once a year we have an incident involving a postal worker.

what's goin' on here?

I'm starting to feel like I live next door to a wildlife preserve and all the residents have escaped. Last night around 5:00 pm we were driving home along the same parkway where we saw the deer on Friday. Here's what we saw. It was raining, and there were several cars just stopped in the right lane, taking in this sight. There were a few neighbors from the development across the street who had walked over with their cameras. I was just coming from my eye appt. and my eyes were still so dilated I could hardly focus. I just rolled down the window and shot in their direction, hoping to capture something. At one point the two bulls were looking straight at me(well at all of us I guess) but I was so excited I got a very blurry photo.

Hub said later that I sounded like a little girl when I exclaimed, "I've never been this close to a real elk, the only ones I saw growing up, were the ones hanging upside down in my Daddy's garage." I grew up in a family of hunters, and it was a sight that always upset me. It led to a lifetime of family jokes of why I think they sent the wrong baby home from the hospital. I was the only one in the family who did not embrace hunting, and would never eat wild game.

But, I digress. Here are the beautiful live Elk that we saw.

Muddling through January

I'm becoming a "homebody". The more I get to stay IN, the more I want to. Hubby has been around a lot more recently, and he's perfectly willing to run errands and bring home what we need. Every few days I do need to take time to go out for coffee, or at least run an errand or two myself. I'm afraid I could be in danger of becoming a total recluse! This winter I've discovered I really do like staying home a lot more.

I'm still sorting and reorganizing. Why is it everything I do takes longer than I think it will, and makes more of a mess than I started with? Things are looking up in the organizing department though. The other day I was working on a project and used the last bit of a Martha glue stick. I went to the cabinet that they should have been in to get a new one, and guess what? There they were...two of them. Lined up right next to a variety of other adhesives. Just like at Michaels, only I didn't have to get in the car to go buy a new one! Yay! Progress.

I did have to go to Michael's and JoAnn's on Friday. First time in weeks since I'd been there. In fact, the people I know who work there, all said "hey stranger" when I strolled in. Went in, got a few choice needed items, and left.

Hubby and I went out to a late lunch and it was close to 4 p.m when we were driving home. As soon as we turned onto the parkway that leads to our development, we saw these deer off to the side of the road. I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough, so he turned around and went back. At first they were all clustered together, standing very still. There was a young boy walking on the other side of the street who started to cross over. As he got closer, the three on the right began to move away. They still didn't run, but by the time I got these photos they had all moved a little farther away. See the houses right behind them? That was all field and cedar groves just two years ago. Now matter how old I get, when I see deer, my breathe catches in my throat. Wish I could have gotten a closer photo. That is a rentention pond in the foreground and I was right next to the sidewalk in front of that.

Easing Into Normal

Trying to get back in the swing of things. There's always that sort of "in limbo" feeling after the holidays. At least for me, and especially this year. With both Christmas and New Years falling on Sunday and the holiday being observed on Monday, it was hard to even remember what day of the week it was.

Hubby and I both have started out the year doing what we normally do. Cleaning out the files, sorting and shredding papers. Moving things around, attempting to get more organized for another fresh start. There are no resolutions made around here, we just strive to tidy things up and begin with a clean slate.

He is always done with his part of this much sooner than I am. Well of course he is! I have tons more stuff to sort than he does. Last week I mostly re-organized art supplies and condensed the amount, and got rid of a lot. I am embarrassed to let anyone even know how many PENS, MARKERS, PAINTS, I had to toss. This has needed to be done for some time, and I've put it off for months. Well, I now have only pens that work, and several empty drawers and containers to put other stuff in. Buying stuff to store so we won't run out is foolish, and wasteful. How guilty I feel about having spent so much money on things that I kept around for so long they dried up.

After spending a few hours each day last week on this chore, I am starting to see some headway. I was even feeling enthused about getting started on some art projects. Then on the week-end the temperature warmed up to the 70's and we all got hit with CEDAR FEVER. This is the main seasonal allergy that strikes here every year right after Christmas and lasts a couple of months. I had it really bad for a couple of days. I could not stop blowing the nose, so got very little done. It cooled off yesterday and rained, so that calmed the cedar down. I immediately felt better. I vote for a long cold winter, as I can't function when the cedar is high. I'm back at my organizing this week. And keep finding little tidbits that make me want to sit right down and make a collage or two. Yay!

Happy, Merry, Cozy Week-end

Merry Christmas to Y'all. Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, however you celebrate.

Our weatherman forecasts a "wintry mix" for tonight. It's 41 right now with a wind chill of 38. I like it! It's 65 inside, I'm bundled up in sweater/scarf/tall boots. Cozy. Candles burning. Me listening to Led Zepplin and Simon and Garfunkel.

A couple of neighbors stopped by with baked goods, I delivered a few myself. There's a neighborhood block party/open house later tonight. We'll stroll down for a hot drink.

Not a lot of decorating done around here, but hubby and I both had an artsy/crafty day yesterday. He's hiding something in the garage that he's been working on. He raided my Tim Holtz drawer of supplies, and made off with handfulls of stuff. Well, yes I said he could use whatever he wanted....I am afraid.

Today is my parents 69th wedding anniversary. Will call them in awhile. As a kid, we always opened our family gifts on Christmas Eve, then Mom and Dad went out dancing. Christmas morning we trekked 35 miles to Grandmas house, with all the Aunts and Uncles and many cousins. Forever, all the days of my childhood. Good memories.

Striving for Serenity

Settling for Simplicity. It's all I can do right now. Some holiday seasons I can "get with it", this is not one of those years. I've been struck by the normal holiday melancholy I seem to have become inflicted with, gradually over the years. I didn't used to have it. I once was one of those Martha Stewart clones, a tree in every room, lots of baking and entertaining. All the trimmings so to speak. Besides working full time, I drove myself crazy to get all this done. By the time Christmas day came, all I wanted to do was lay down under that tree and go to sleep! That was in my "perfection years" and those days are long gone, thankfully.

Well, I know good and well all families have strife and sadness, it's just part of living. This year has been a particularily hard one for both mine and hubbies. We're just kind of skating over Christmas this year. We've never been caught up in the "buy, buy, buy" part of the holidays, so it's been even easier to scale back. Staying OUT of the department stores has been such a relief. The few gifts we have bought have all been handmade, from various Arts&Crafts shows from around town, or by me. Fortunately, the people I know and love and give gifts to appreciate handmade.

So, yesterday afternoon, I sat in front of the window, in hubby's big leather chair, for a good long time. I drank tea, watched the neighbors cat chase the blowing leaves, read the entire Sunday paper, drank more tea. Then I addressed the last few cards while hubby cooked us bacon, turkey and swiss cheese paninis. Pretty darn good...It was applewood smoked, thick sliced bacon, and NOT even low sodium. After dinner we both called our families and even that was nice and relaxing. My Dad never wants to stay on the phone for more than a few minutes, but he was very talkative last night. After reading for awhile and doing a bit of yoga, I fell asleep and didn't wake up once during the night. Very unusual for me. So I felt rested and really had a better outlook this morning. It's dreary and misty outside and I have stayed in all morning, and think I will not go out the rest of the day. I have some candles burning and am listing to Pandora radio. Cozy, that's me