26 November 2008

James Lipton's Ten

I found this list on John's blog and had read it previously on Inge's blog. I'm sorry I don't know how to add the links to take you right to their blogs.
I liked the list and decided to add it to my own. Thanks to both of you!

1. What is your favorite word? Love

2. What is your least favorite word? Any word associated with taking the Lord's name in vain. God is for the good, His name shouldn't be taken in vain.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? Many different things. Sunshine. Laughter. Tears. Sudden down bursts of rain. Lightning. Friends. Family. The list literally goes on and on!

4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? Lack of sleep. Sadness. Loneliness.

5. What sound or noise do you love? A cat purring.

6. What sound or noise do you hate? Yelling in anger directed at another person. Especially though if it is directed at me.

7. What is your favorite curse word? Hell

8. What profession other than your own, would you like to attempt? veterinarian

9. What profession would you not like to do? septic tank cleaner

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome home!


Peace

Sleep, A Pink Bird, Money Trees and Star Trek

I didn't make it back here on Monday. I slept Monday away. I missed the ballgame... two basketball games played by the two girls I sit with on Monday evenings. I missed sitting with the girls as well. The fibro kicked my butt royally on Monday. I couldn't keep my eyes open to save my soul! I'm still a might tired even though I've had plenty of sleep. That's the fibromyalgia though. It takes over and bosses my body around. I have little control over when it takes ahold nor when it lets loose.
Here is the artwork promised though...take a peek at what I have been up to. I have done more Chunky pages and another ATC since the last post and I'll show you those in my next post. Nothing spectacular, though I rather like the ATC I made yesterday.
Altered Playing Card (APC) Collaged-pink tissue paper, foil origami paper, the bird is cut freehand from a pc of scrapbooking paper, his beak is a trimmed pipe cleaner, legs are black cording and his eye is a seed bead. All attached to a playing card. Eventually the whole deck will be altered and traded. This APC will be headed to Finland.

Next we have the trees made for the Chunky Page Tree Swap. I made seven of them but I'll only be sending six of them. The other one will go into my own Tree Chunky Book once I get enough trees to assemble a book.
All of these are made pretty much the same. Various papers for the backgrounds, most of the green for the grass under the trees came a veggie catalog or magazine. The 'leaves' on all the trees is shredded US Currency that my 5 yr old grandson, Brenton, gave me this past spring from a field trip to the Dane Hansen Musuem over in Logan. The tree trunks are free hand cut from various brown papers. There is wallpaper, packing paper and cardstock among them. Each of the pages has the brown fibers and some multicolored fibers sandwiched between the fronts and the backs. Each page also has a glass leaf tied onto the end of one of the fibers. I didn't scan the backsides. They just have green backgrounds with a fabric leaf and green label with my info on it on the back. Nothing exciting! These will be sent to the host of the swap and will be divvied up among the players. I will get six pages back from six different artists who also participated in the swap.






I wish I knew how to make that scanner take only a scan of the item on the scanner bed instead of all that dead space around them each. Perhaps someday I will figure that all out. Until then, we'll just have to deal with these not-so-good scans.
The next two Chunky Pages were made for a Pass It Forward (PIF). Only one page was expected but she's getting two cause I was on a roll! Nothing spectacular about these two pages either. Two paperback novels were the basis of the pages. The text background is a page from one of the books. The color picture is from the front covers.
I wanted to make a model of the spaceship in miniature to add to the danglies off the side of the page, but I found a picture of that spaceship from Deep Space Nine and there is no way it would have worked. The post office's machinery would have annhiliated it! So I went with origami stars, plastic stars and plastic blue beads as danglies instead. The backs of these two are text pages painted blue with printers ink, there's a cutout from the back page of one of the paperbacks of a character from the series and my informtion to round it all out. The bottom page here has braided twine along the bottom edge to hide the author's name. It just didn't look quite right being there so I covered it up.

The only way I know today is Wednesday is that the calendar on this machine tells me it is. On the agenda this morning is a marathon baking excursion. I have peanut butter cookies, chocolate cake and peach jello salad to make. Yes, I know peach jello salad doesn't get baked! lol Tomorrow is Turkey Day and all these things must be done before then. The cake will actually be cupcakes I think. I haven't yet decided on that.
Before baking commences though I'll be finishing off some Chunky pages that Allison and I made a few weeks ago on a Monday at her house. Allison is 11. She made the pages to assemble into a book for her mama for Christmas. I'll be giving my three paper mache bowls another coat of paper as well before the day is out. All this artwork can go on while the oven is doing its job with the baking.
I woke up about an hour ago with a cat laying across the top of my head and tail across my nose. There was another cat asleep on my chest. Not sure where Miss Blue was. Fred climbed into my bed shortly after I climbed out of it. I need to go chase his hide off my bed and pull the blankets up over the pillows so I don't end up with a dog-drooled pillow! I also need some coffee in me.
Here's hoping you have a fabulous Wednesday wherever you might be and that you find the chance to smile at a stranger and maybe give some badly needed hugs to someone. You'll get some nice hugs in the deal for yourself as well.
Be good to one another!
Peace
831

24 November 2008

Ramblings and Old Artwork

Hello Good People!

It has been an excellent Sunday. The weather was nice, my son came to visit, I talked to Ma on the telephone earlier this evening and I saw my sister early this morning as well. I also did a load of artwork during the day. The dishes did not get done though. I will show you all what I was up to today, tomorrow night or Tuesday. I haven't scanned them yet as a few of them are still drying. I made nine Chunky pages and one ATC. All things that are due or were due weeks ago. I still have those cats to paint though. I got busy with trees and didn't get to the cats.

It is almost time I head to bed. I've been awake since 5 this morning and it is now after 1 a.m.

I'm sharing some old artwork with you all. I hope my memory is serving me correctly this evening and I have not shown you all any of these already.
My home state of Kansas depicted on an ATC that went to England of all places! Not very artistic really considering the only thing I drew on the card is the elevator placed near Colby. To give you an idea of the scale of the map, I live in Stockton. Hays is 38 miles to the south. Colby is about 100 +/- miles to the west.

This is an ink drawing done with fine point sharpie marker on slick cardstock. I forget where it went... New York state I think, but don't hold me that cause I very well could be totally wrong!

This is a failed photograph with the saying written on it with sharpie marker. I've no idea where this one went either and I won't even take a stab at guessing!


This is an acrylic painting on sandpaper. Surprisingly sandpaper is quite easy to paint on and it gives a wonderful texture! I've done a few paintings on sandpaper since this first attempt. I've no clue where it went either. I keep drawing a blank on the destinations these ATCs ended up at.


This is one of the very first ATCs I made and one of the very first I traded as well. I still have ATCs that were made back in Nov of 07 that have not traded yet. The card reads: A good reason to dream is that in dreams you don't have to have reasons.
November 19, 2007 was the day I discovered and started making ATCs for trade. I have come a long way in improvement from my first attempts. I've learned a lot in the past year about art and about myself as well.
I will come back Monday evening when I get home from watching the girls to yak at you all again. I have a ballgame to go to in the afternoon. Not sure what sort of ballgame. I want to say volleyball but for some reason my old brain is shut down mode at the moment! Might be cause I'm in need of some sleep?
You all be good to one another. Get yourself a few hugs anyway you can today.
Peace
831




22 November 2008

Cleaning, Rearrangements and Blood Letting

I have been steadily rearranging my deskroom for the last few hours. RJ and Devin moved the big pieces of furniture for me early on Friday while I slept. I can't find anything I need but that will change the more artwork I get done~! I can't believe how big this room appears to be after having rearranged. There isn't much less in here, it's just been moved around. The only two things that are missing were not on the floor to begin with. The little table that stood on top of the dresser went to the storage shed out in the yard and the slotted cabinet for papers went to the spare room where I sent my paper cutter as well. Though the cabinet the paper cutter was on is still in the deskroom. I still have a long way to go before all is in place where I want it. I need to get some labels to label all the little boxes, tins and jars that hold all those little elements I use in my art. That is part of the reason I cannot find anything when I need it.... I have to look through a dozen little containers before I find what I am looking for, if I ever find it!
The file cabinets really need to be cleaned out and reorganized as well. Especially the green one. It is all wasted space at the time being! The dresser with six large drawers needs to be organized in four of those drawers. I've really little clue as what those drawers house except for the one with ribbons and fibers in it and the one that houses the bubble envelopes. Bunch of useful junk in the rest of the drawers though that need to find a permanent home in this deskroom! We won't talk about the shelf by my computer... it's a MESS! I'm sick of cleaning though and I'm taking a break for the time being.
It's good to be able to see the floor! Wow! That carpet is really green! :) I haven't seen this much of the carpet in this room since the day I moved everything into this room over three years ago! I really can't believe how much ROOM is now available in my deskroom! Should have rearranged this mess ages ago! Thanks to Ronnie and Devin for moving all the big stuff for me. I couldn't have done it alone!
And now that the deskroom is taking good shape, I better get busy and get those cat portraits done along with the chunky pages due for a swap and the little books due for another swap and and and....I have lots of work to do! First thing on my agenda though is to get the Star Trek chunky page done that someone has been waiting on for weeks. I'll finish putting everything away a bit at a time. Someone needs to clean this desk off too. I think things live on this desk and carry things away in the night...day...I'm awake in the night...I'd catch them running off with things during the night. Must be daylight when the beasties come out! I'm only kidding there you know! This desk is a bigger mess than the shelf that sits beside it though. Feels good to have an organized spot in which to create again.
What this means for you all is that you'll again be seeing some new artwork in the near future! And yes, I CAN hear you all sayin' "Oh Yeah!" LOL I'm stoked. Can you tell? It's been far too long since artwork was accomplished in this room and I am ready to get going with it again! Does anyone know what happened to my water bowl for painting though? It seems to have been lost in the abyss and even though the abyss isn't quite so deep as it was the day before yesterday, that bowl has not appeared! I'm not even sure why it isn't on the painting table? I don't paint anywhere but there and that bowl's nowhere to be seen.
I must clean off the shelf in the closet as well. I've no idea what is on the south end of that shelf as I haven't seen any of that stuff for over three years. I doubt most of it will remain cause I have not missed any of it in more than three years. I'm figuring none of that stuff is real important!
Well now that I have cleaned out that shelf in the closet....I can't believe I hadn't missed some of that stuff! I didn't do away with any of it, just put in different spots with like items.
And while I was cleaning out that box I found some wooden embroidery hoops that I wanted to hang from a hook on the filing cabinet but the hook was too long and the hoops wouldn't fit on it without some surgery to the hook. I took it to the kitchen where my pliers were located and promptly cut a good sized hole in my left thumb and another good sized hole on the underside of my right index finger, both at the same time! I've used that pair of pliers a hundred times with no injuries! I'm now injured! I did stop the flow of blood which was quit large for the size of holes in my hands, but now I have pain. :( But it ain't like I don't live with pain 24/7 so I know I will survive and I'm quite certain my thumb and finger will fine in a few days time. Two for the price of one and I didn't get that magnetic hook to work for the hoops afterall. That plastic hook was tougher than I first thought!
Well, I've yakked at you all long enough for one post... oh the trials and tribulations! LOL Thanks for hearing me out... that is if you've hung around long enough to get this far. And if you didn't, well, you missed out on the laughs. I hope you all are getting a laugh from this rambling!
I can tell you I have confused the hell out of that silly Fred dog for the last few hours, running all over the house, fetching things from the spare room and taking other things there from the deskroom. He would get comfy on the floor of the deskroom and I'd suddenly run off to another part of the house and being the follower that he is, he'd have to get up and go with me. I've tuckered the poor fellow out! He's now asleep on my bed and has given up on me for the morning! He's going to be kicked out of that bed soon though cause I will myself be getting in it and he's not allowed to sleep on the bed while I'm in it!
Sooooooo..... Here's hoping you have a happy, productive Saturday regardless what your plans are! Be good to one another!
Peace
831

Things I Have Done

I found this list on my friend Maryellen's blog and thought it a great idea! If you want to play along you'll need to diffrentiate between those you've done and those you haven't. Those I've done have an astric beside them *


I HAVE . . .
*1. Started my own blog
*2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
*5. Watched a meteor shower
*6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
*9. Held a praying mantis
*10. Sung a solo (it was in the shower :) but a solo nonetheless!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
*14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
*16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
*18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
*21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
*23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
*24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
*26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
*30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
*35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
*37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
*41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
*46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
*52. Kissed in the rain
*53. Played in the mud
*54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
*63. Got flowers for no reason
*64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
*67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
*69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
*71. Eaten Caviar
*72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
*78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
*87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
*88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
*91. Met someone famous
*92. Joined a book club
*93. Lost a loved one
*94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
*97. Been involved in a law suit
*98. Owned a cell phone
*99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

That's all for the time being. I might be back later with another post. If not, then you all know the drill! :) Be good to one another an lend a helping hand where a helping hand is needed!
Peace
831

20 November 2008

Thursday Again...

It is again Thursday. I'm starting this entry off with a link to Wikipedia for John. We discussed Hutchinson, KS the other day and I think the link will be of interest to him. If you all go take a look there you may find it of interest as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson,_Kansas

I was born and raised in Hutchinson for the first six years of my life and then moved back again when I was 14. My sister, Jeanny and her family still live there and I visit whenever I can. It is the best big city in the state of Kansas if you ask me.

I don't have any art to show you all today cause the deskroom is still in disarray. I was all gung-ho this morning to get it back together again but the vaccuum sweeper and the electrical outlet in the deskroom refused to get along and kept blowing the breaker so I gave up on that endeavor before I got so fustrated I wanted to throw the vaccuum out the front door. I didn't throw the vaccuum out the front door though, it's sitting over there in the closet waiting patiently to be put to good use. That is on my agenda for later. I have to go with plan B though cause I'm not fighting with that stupid machine tonight. I refuse! Wish me luck with plan B cause I haven't formulated a plan C yet. Plan A sure didn't work out!

I made the 'bones' of three more paper bowls. One this morning. I still have four more to go. I gotta get busy on that endeavor cause Christmas is going to be here before we know it and I want to have them all done long before that day arrives!

Nothing new on the home front so this is going to be a short entry. I'll leave you with a poem for now and wish you all a happy Friday!


The Old Man Next Door

The house had been in need of
a coat of paint for many years,
the man inside in need of a
woman's touch for many more.

An old man living alone in the confines
of an old house with weathering boards and
his heart weathering more rapidly then his house.
He went away one summer's dawn.

The house now sits lonely on the side of the road,
filled to the brim with things he collected
to fill up the emptiness he felt in his soul.
He looked all around and love was not found.

Honeysuckle vines climb the façade
where the front door is hidden from view.
There inside you'll find lonely old walls
adorned with lonely old photos of those he once knew.

His children, grown now, came to collect his
personal belongings the other afternoon.
They loaded up furniture, boxes and things
into the back of an old Chevy truck and drove away.

The house seems abandoned just like that old man.
And the weathered old house sits aging day after day
with no one tending the honeysuckle vine,
no one even taking notice of the life once lived inside.

The yard is over grown with wild catnip and
weeds of all kinds, reminding me of what once belonged.
I drive by there every single day and I wonder
what kind of people would abandon an old man.

He had grown quite deaf in his aging life and
he hollered when he talked, if he talked at all.
He was an auctioneer in his younger days and
all those things came about from the way he made his living.

Like the house itself, the things inside are of ancient times gone by.
When his children had taken what they deemed to be the best,
the old auctioneer's things
were put on the block to see what they would fetch.

Seems quite terrible to me that the things he held dear,
to his children, were a means to farther their riches,
to enlighten their senses and make light of
what the old man stood for in his life.

He lived in that old house with the leaky roof,
the seven out buildings and not a soul to share it all with
for as many years as I can remember.
He simply lived all alone.

His children appeared only after he'd died.
I didn't know he even had anyone in his life.
They buried him in the cemetery on the hill and
now he's gone to meet his wife in the afterlife.

I am in hopes she met him at the gates
and the reunion they shared was so full of grace,
it didn't really matter he lived all alone and
the years gone by were of the waiting kind.

Surely he smiles more everyday
with his love beside him on the hills where they can play.
His children haven't been seen for weeks
and that old house will someday fall in a heap.
2006

I'm uncertain of the date this one was actually written, but sometime in 2006 nonetheless. This old man really did exsist in my world, though I've embellished the facts in this poem. I hope you like.

Be good to one another! Smile at a stanger, lend a helping hand and love yourself as well as your neighbor! I shall yak at you all another day!
Peace
831

17 November 2008

Ramblings From Me and a Picture or Two

I have had a pretty good Monday. Slept most of it away though. Helena fetched my hide to town to watch the girls while she and Bob went bowling like they do every Monday from September to May. She got here about quarter to seven. They lost three games this evening. That's very unlike them. They usually kick butt at bowling. Was good to see the girls again. Allison didn't home till right at 8:30 p.m. She ate supper at one of her friends' houses. I ate supper with Helena. Everyone else, Kellen, Sara and Bob were done with supper by the time Helena and I got there. Helena had made Shepard's Pie. It was tasty! I was back home by 10:15 p.m.
Fred was a good boy and stayed outside the whole time I was in town. He let me know he wasn't real happy about that situation but he'll get over it. Matter of fact, he's already gotten over it! He's now asleep on the floor beside my chair here in the deskroom. I had to close the door to make him stay in here with me cause he was in the kitchen barking at the cats trying to convince them the canned cat food I had put out for them was really for him. He'd of stolen it right off their perch if I hadn't made him stay in here with me. He'll get the leftovers - if there are any - when those three cats get done.
I started reading a new book the other day. Not really a new book, I read it years ago. Ma found the entire Earth's Children Series by Jean M. Auel and I have started reading Clan of The Cave Bear again. First time I read it was back in 1983. I told you it wasn't a new book! lol Gary and I lived out in Goldfield, Nevada at the time. RJ was only a few months old at that point. Gary worked for Esmeralda County and when they decided to move the library to new quarters out there, he and I helped in that endeavor. That's how I came across the book to begin with. By helping to shelve the thousands of books we helped to move. It was a good book the first time I read it and the subsequent books in the series proved to be good reads as well. I'm kind of disappointed though that I know how it will end. I'll slog through it again though because it is an excellent story and I don't remember the whole of it.
Ma found all four books at the thrift store last week. All four of them First Editions as well! I used to collect First Editions but the house fire wiped out that collection. Or as RJ and RW called it: The Kids' Inheritance. Guess without even realizing it, I've began that collection all over again. That's cool though!
While Susan and I were in Hutchinson we hit the Etcetera Shop and I brought home about a dozen books from there. A few of those are destined to be Christmas gifts though. Do you find it find strange I give people 'used' things as gifts? Some folks think it is tacky, not right at all. But in my family if we find something that we think someone will enjoy, whether it's new or not, we buy it for them as a gift. Most of my elephant herd was acquired in that manner...from family members who found the critters and bought them for me. I look at it this way: A gift is something from the heart. It shouldn't matter how much money was spent on it or if it once belonged to someone else. What should matter is that the person who bought it for you was thinking of you at the time. I'd rather have something I liked that cost a quarter than something that cost $25 that didn't fit into my likes at all. There are folks I won't buy anything but something new for but those folks are few and far between in my circle.
And speaking of those gifts...do you realize how fast Christmas is creeping up on us? Linda and Susan have invited me to a gift wrapping party at Susan's house this coming weekend. Bring your own gifts and paper to wrap with. I can do that! That closet in my bedroom holds a bunch of gifts for others that I have picked up throughout the year. I still have some gifts to make though. It should be a fun time wrapping presents with my sisters this weekend.
I folded more magazine pages the last two nights in preparation of making at least two more paper bowls for gifts for my sisters. I've absolutely no idea what I am going to get my mother for Christmas. I'm thinking I will bake her some cookies and make her a few magnets for her fridge with frogs on them. My mother has everything she ever wanted and if she doesn't have it, she can and will go out and buy it for herself.

RJ was here this morning. He neglected to wake me up. I heard Fred barking to be let back in the house and got up to do so. RJ was here in the deskroom on the computer. I said hello to him and went back to bed. Before he left he said something about coming back tomorrow to build the shelve out in the trailerhouse shed for all that junk out there. I told him I'd rather he fixed the water pipes in the bathroom so I can get my deskroom back together so I can get caught up with the artwork I'm way behind on. He said, "Don't yell at me, Mom." I wasn't yelling. I was being firm about it. I think the deskroom is a bit more important then the shelving out in the shed. Both need to be done, but we need to get our priorities in line here! I really NEED my deskroom together. The shelving can wait a few more days. Either that or he can put Devin to work on the shelving while he fixes the pipes and then I can put this deskroom back together. I'm going to have to do that myself anyway. No one but me knows where I want all this crap. Hell, I don't even know where it all should go yet.

Sometime in the near future I should be getting a call from the weatherization folks about weatherizing this house. I'd like the deskroom back together by then! I'm not sure if I qualify for that service or not, but it was worth a shot to find out. I sent the application in a few weeks ago. Playing the waiting game on that right now.

This picture below is one I took about six years ago of a thunderstorm building at dusk. It rained to beat the band that night! What a pretty shot though, huh? The treetops you see in the picture are between the house I live in and the burned house I used to live in. Someday I will live in that house again! I am going to miss my woodburning stove again this winter. I could go over there to the burned house and fire that sucker up if I wanted to right now. Not that it would do any good...lol...there are few windows and make-shift doors in the burned house now. And not a lick of insulation in it either. I truly miss the smell of a wood fire burning on a cold winter's night. And if you're wondering if the wood burning stove had anything at all to do with the house burning, it didn't. The house burned on the 31st of May. A Tuesday morning in the pouring rain. Fire marshall says the fire started in the sofa but I totally disagree with that assumption. I don't care what the burn pattern had to say about that fire. When I stepped out of my bedroom that morning, the sofa was not on fire. The whole south wall of the livingroom was on fire. The sofa sat on the west wall. I think the house was struck by lightning but what I thought and what I saw that morning held little interest to the fire marshall. He said it started in the sofa and he wasn't changing his mind about it. I don't suppose after three and half years it really matters one way or another...the house is burned and the insurance covered it. That's how I ended up in this stupid trailer house I didn't want in the first place.
House shopping isn't for me. I don't like shopping of any kind actually. I am, however, thankful for a roof over my head, warmth in the winter and a place to lay my head at night to sleep. I chose this stupid trailer house because I didn't want to shop for houses anylonger and I didn't want to move away from where I live. A trailer house was my only option really.
One thing I wish this house had that it doesn't is a dog door. I've been begging for three years now for someone to put one in for me but no one thinks that is a good idea except for me. If we had one, I wouldn't have to play butler for that silly Fred dog! And he wouldn't have to stay outside while I'm away from home.
It appears as though I've written another novel this evening. I'll leave you with a picture of a sculpture I found surfing the net. I wish I could tell you just who the artist is but I did not save that information for some reason. Guess I wasn't thinking that day! Can you guess what it is made from?

Remember to give and get some hugs. Smile at a stranger and lend a helping hand where one is needed most. Have yourselves a terrific Tuesday! I shall come yak at you all again soon. Perhaps artwork and maybe a poem will be included next time!
Peace
831

The Essentials of Living

Humans have the need to be loved. Not all human beings practice the art of sowing love and therefore don't reap a full harvest in return. Love shouldn't take discipline to be accomplished but sometimes it does. We forget that we are not the only beings in our space. Every person we touch in our lifetime becomes a part of our space and we a part of theirs. If every human being on the planet could live in harmony with all their fellow human beings, the world would be a lot nicer place to inhabit.

Leo Buscaglia wrote a book called Living, Loving and Learning. I found this list in that book at the end of the chapter called That's Where The Light Is. This list may help you to attain a greater degree of love in your space. When you fill your own space with love it seeps out of the seams and engulfs others' spaces. How wonderful would it be if we could bottle it all up and detonate the essense in mass quanities across the globe? Imagine all the smiles, imagine the tears that would be dried.

Here is Leo Buscaglia's list of words that he feels are a guide to what is essential:
1. Right Knowledge, to supply you with the tools necessary for your voyage.
2. Wisdom, to assure you that you are using the accumulated knowledge of the past in a manner that will best serve the discovery of you presence, your "now".
3. Compassion, to help you accept others whose way may be diffferent from yours, with gentleness and understanding, as you move with them or through them or around them on your own way.
4. Harmony, to be able to accept the natural flow of life.
5. Creativity, to help you to realize and recognize new alternatives and unchartered paths along the way.
6. Strength, to stand up against fear and move forward in spite of uncertainty, without guarantee or payment.
7. Peace, to keep you centered.
8. Joy, to keep you songful, and laughing and dancing along the way.
9. Love, to be your continual guide towards the highest level of consiousness of which man is capable.
10. Unity, which brings us back to where we started-the place where we are at one with ourselves and with all things.
I think Leo has that living, loving and learning business figured out. If you've not read the book, find a copy and give it a shot. I need to read my own copy again just to refresh my memory and motivate me to love a little better than I have been doing of late.
I haven't collected any hugs today and I may not collect any today. It's still young...only five a.m. here in Kansas. There are a lot of things on the agenda today. Loving is one of those things!
You all go collect some hugs today, give a few as well. Consider yourselves cyberhugged for sure! Tis the human touch we all crave though and my saying you've been hugged isn't exactly what you all need! Go touch someone today ... spread the love.
Peace
831

16 November 2008

November's Arrival-POETRY

Tis surely Autumn's stand
and I sit here with thoughts in hand
wondering about the winter to come.

The trees are undressing as in
anticipation of a good night's loving.
They bare thier branchesfor all to see.
They endure the coldness that
is surely to be.

The wind whips the fallen leaves
into a frenzy of color
to fall happily
to the ground for a cover to make.

The dirt in my neck of the woods
is slowly chilling the roots.
Everything preparing for the snow to fly.
I heard the turkeys in the field know why.

They gobble to their hearts' delight,
strutting their stuff while
time goes by.

There's dampness in the air tonight
and tomorrow we'll find Jack Frost spent the night
dusting the landscape with flecks of ice.

November's presence has made her mark
upon the place where I sit making mine.
I'm bundled for the chilling that is to come
and wonder fills my heart as the days go on.

6 November 2008

I haven't written much poetry this past year for reasons I am unsure of. The muse simply refuses to cooperate. But here's one for you anyway. Is it quality? I'm inclined to say, "Not so much." It hasn't been edited at all. What you read is what came out of me at the writing of this one. Hope you like it anyway!

I do not have any new art to show you as my deskroom is in disarray at the moment and no new artwork has been produced here. I did make a couple of ornaments to give as gifts come Christmas. Peapods. Very cool! I can't show them to you at the moment though because I can't take a picture of them without a camera that likes the PC. Perhaps Terah will bring hers along the next time I see her? I'll have to ask.

Susan kidnapped me on Thursday morning and we went to Hutchinson to see sister Jeanny and her clan. We stayed till mid afternoon on Friday and headed back home to cold rain. I had a good time away despite the pain that lingered the whole while. Sitting in the car does that to me though. Makes me hurt like crazy from the top of my head to the tips of my toes and it's the arms, neck and shoulders that hurt the worst!~ I survived though and I'm quite happy to have been kidnapped for the adventure!

As cold rain greeted us on the way home, when we got home, warmth and love were in abundance! Ma paid my propane bill and paid to have 100 gallons more put in my tank. I will be warm now with the furnace fired up! Thank you, Ma! 831 She also finished my laundry and cleaned the spare bathroom and the hallway. She's a good mama! My bed was also clean and fresh when I climbed into it later on Friday evening. She had washed my blankets and bought me a new sheet too boot! I didn't really need a new sheet, but I was pleased to find it. It's green, my favorite color!

I'm rather behind on mailart commitments what with the deskroom being in a shambles. RJ still hasn't come over to put shut off valves on the waterlines to the bathtub and I can't put the deskroom back together until he does that. I'd do it myself but I don't even know where to start to accomplish that feat! So I am playing the waiting game on that front. RJ and Terah went to Hutchinson on Thursday as well. I haven't heard from them and I am in hopes that no news is good news. The boy will show up early Monday morning with Devin in tow and they will fix that problem with the bathtub and I will have Devin here to help move all that stuff back to the deskroom so I can get it back to some semblance of order again. I still have cat portraits to paint. Do you all realize how long I've been saying that? I'll tell you: since July! Like I said, I'm behind in commitments.

I have little on the agenda for the rest of the day. I just woke up from a three hour nap and will probably be awake till early morning when I'll crash once again. I need a shower and something to eat. In that order. I should also go get yesterday's mail out of the box across the highway sometime before tomorrow morning. There is art waiting for me out there. I know there is!

I'm going to stop rambling at you all and go do something productive for a little while. You all be good to one another and lend a helping hand where a helping hand is needed.
Peace

831

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged!
The tag rules:
Each player starts with 8 random fact/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag 8 people and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged and to read your blog.

My 8 things:

1. I do not like to clean house and if I didn't have to ever do it, I wouldn't.
2. I am a voracious reader and I will read anything I can get my hands on! I especially like murder mysteries.
3. My favorite food is brussel sprouts.
4. I cannot swim.
5. I am a packrat and own many more things than one person could possibly need in one lifetime. I like my things.
6. I collect elephants and have a herd of about 350.
7. When I was 17 I had a pet opposum that my father caught in our garden. Her name was Petunia.
8. I believe that love can conquer any adversity.

I don't know 8 people to tag so I'm not going to tag anyone. Perhaps later on down the line when I find 8 people to tag...but not today.
Thanks for the tag, John!

08 November 2008

An Excellent Friday Comes To An End

Friday was a red letter day so we're going to use RED font this early Saturday morn.
It is almost 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. I just got home about 20 minutes ago. I left home at 4:30 p.m on Friday to go to The Taste of Home Cooking School over in Pburg. I went with my friend Helena and had a fabulous time despite the fact I sat in the same spot for over three hours. My old body is already paying for that but it was worth it all the same cause I did have a great time! It has been forever since Helena and I went somewhere and did something together. She paid for the tickets as a Monday gift for me. (I always get a Monday gift for sitting with the girls.) We left there right about 10:15 p.m. and headed back to Stockton. She called her husband when we got close to home to tell him we were on our way and he suggested we all go to the bar and play some pool. So we picked Bob and Kellen up at their house and went to The Duck Blind where we played some pool. Helena and I did not drink, she had ice water and I had a coke. B and K drank rum and coke and played a lot more pool than H and I did. Some lady asked K if I was his wife. K is a 22 yr old boy! lol Made my day! I'm old enough to be that boy's mama! I must of been looking exceptionally fine this evening? lol I'm still laughing at the absurdity of it all. I laughed more this evening than I have in ages! H and I played the trivia machine at the bar while the boys played pool with some other fellas. I hadn't been in a bar for ages. I forgot how noisy drunk people can be! It was fun though. I had a fabulous time! Our friend Josh showed up there at the bar a couple hours before we left. B told him H would give him a ride to his car and I would drive him home. He kinda balked at that idea but we talked him into it pretty easily once we were headed down the road to where he left his car. He was way too drunk to be driving anywhere! I was glad to get him home safe and sound. Then they brought me home.
Someone, I'm assuming my sister Susan, left the porch light on for me. I forgot to turn it on when I left this afternoon. That was nice to see when we pulled into my drive. Fred was asleep on my bed, where he shouldn't be, when I came in the house. I think he's taken up residence there again right now too. I left Fred outside when I left and asked Susan if she would let him in later as I had no idea when I would get home. Sure didn't expect it to be 2 in the morning though!
I really should be heading to bed here pretty soon. I have things to do come morning. RJ and RW will be here early to help Monte and Elaine unload their trailer they're bringing. Monte is storing some of his things in my burned house till he gets his building built at their new house in Pburg. RW promised to help. RJ is coming to put a part on the van to try to get it running. I'm hoping Brenton and Terah come as well. Would also be nice if Lou and the younguns would come too but I'm not sure if there will be any younguns here or not. It will be a bonus if there are.
Friday was a good snail mail day. Three ATCs and no bills! There was some junk mail thrown in the box across the highway too but it really doesn't count as sometimes it's good and sometimes it isn't. I can't recall right off the top of my head just what did come with the good stuff. I have yet to go through it all. Yeah, that bad habit is alive and well. I really need to change that habit of not dealing with the snail mail as it arrives!
I'm fighting off cats as I type. Miss Blue wants to sit between me and keyboard and Doob is sitting on the floor meowing her fool head off at me. She probably wants me to go to bed so she can snuggle up under the blankets with me! Billy is already asleep on the bed. I found all three of those cats and the dog asleep on my bed. It really surprises me that Doob lets that dog on the bed and stays there herself. She hates that dog!
I didn't get any supper so I nuked some roasted chicken when I got home and filled my belly. I need to clean out the furnace today so I can fire that sucker up. It is quite chilly in the house tonight. The wind has been blowing pretty steady for two days straight out of the north. Those two rubber rats are still up on the roofs. Guess the wind wasn't quite strong enough to dislodge them. RW will climb up there and fetch them down when he gets here later. Fred will be happy.
Bob said he drove by in the semi about noon Friday and saw Fred laying in the driveway. He said he thought Fred was dead. He wasn't, he was just sleeping in his usual spot in the sunshine. Bob said he thought about calling me to go check on Fred but he didn't and when he came back by an hour or so later Fred was not in the same spot so he knew all was OK. I'd be lost without that silly dog to keep me company and give me some entertainment from time to time!
Mr. Skunk has moved onto greener pastures. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since the last time I talked about him here.
I'm going to bed now. Friday was indeed a stellar day! I hope your Friday was half as fine as mine was....even at only half as fine, you had a great day as well! :)
Go get your hugs...I collected a few...and lend a helping hand where a helping hand is needed!
I shall yak at you all another day!
Peace
831

06 November 2008

And Thursday Has Rolled Around Again!

We made history! I am so glad that our new president is Mr. Obama. He was the right choice, I do believe. I'm very thankful that he is the chosen one. He will do great things for America if those who doubt his abilities will only give him the chance to implement the changes that are needed. It isn't only America who will benefit, it will be the whole world. He and his family are in my daily prayers. He is going to need all the prayers we can muster up for him during his term as president. The naysayers are going to make sure of that. Good will triumph though if we all pull together and help him make his promises become reality.

I haven't been here since last week because I haven't been. I really don't have a good excuse so I'll offer up no excuse. It is me that suffers from this more than those of you who read this. Writing is in my blood and when writing doesn't occur for this long, well, I suffer! Time to stop the suffering and put some words down on this screen.

I don't have any art to show you today because I'm a lazy girl some days and today is one of those days. I simply don't want to go retrieve the pictures. There isn't any spectacular art you all are missing out on anyway cause there hasn't been any spectacular art produced for you TO miss out on! I told you I'm lazy some days! :) Unfortunately it's been more than just one day.

I wasn't home from early Monday afternoon till late Wednesday afternoon anyway. I was up in Pburg with my grandson. RJ and Terah had gone off to Kansas City for a dr's appt for RJ's back. They've decided he still has to have back surgery but not the procedure they had first discussed. The boy is only 25. I think that's way too young to be having back surgery of any kind but I never got my medical degree so we'll let those who did get one decide on the best course of action where RJ's back is concerned.
I had a wonderful time sitting with Brenton though. He's six. He's hilarious. He's a great little kid! I took Fred with me for those two days. He and Pug had a great time. Fred is a 120 pound black lab and Pug is a little terrier mix mutt who might weigh 10 pounds. They had a blast! I had to chase Fred around the neighborhood three times on Tuesday when the kids kept letting him out the front door. Liked to have wore my hide out! The neighbor kids, Christian and I'm not sure what the little girl's name is that lives next door to Brenton... came over after school let out. I told them children to wait for me to open the door, knock and I'll let you in so Fred doesn't go out. They paid no attention to that advice and that is why I had to chase that fool dog all over the place. That door would open and Fred would be gone!
Pug has this rope toy. It's a sphere with a big black rope running through the middle of it. Pug would bring it to the livingroom and lay there with it in her mouth, watching Fred while he watched her. Then she's take off running down the hallway with Fred on her heels. They'd come back into the livingroom, Fred with the rope toy in his mouth and Pug literally biting him on the hamstrings and Fred dancing around trying to get Pug off his tailend. He'd sit down on her head and she'd pop out from underneath of Fred and head for his front feet where she'd bite him again. Fred would get ahold of it in his mouth and Pug would get ahold of the other end of the rope and Fred would shake his head like dogs will and Pug would leave the ground and get flung all over the place. She wouldn't let go though and seemed to be having the time of her life with Fred! This went on for hours! Then Pug showed up from the backyard (which is fenced) with a tennis ball. Tennis balls are bad news! Those two fool dogs tore all the fuzz off that tennis ball in the course of the evening. Neither one of them wanted the rope toy after Pug brought the tennis ball in. Fred isn't allowed to play with tennis balls in the house cause he can't be trusted. He breaks things. He gets too excited about tennis balls and he's too big to be getting that excited about anything inside the house. I retrieved that tennis ball out from under the sofa at least a dozen times before I could sneak it away from them two canines. Not to mention all that fuzz on the livingroom carpet. I got it away from Fred and Pug saw me put it in the drawer in the coffee table. I swear she told that Fred dog where I put it cause he stood in front of the coffee table, barking his fool head off at me like a spoiled child demanding he get his own way. I didn't give in though and he eventually shut up about it. And the good news is he didn't break anything either.
He got all his tennis balls taken away cause he just can't be trusted with them. He snuck one into the van one day when I took him with me when I was going somewhere. We were on the highway at the time, driving 65 mph and that stupid dog lost control of his tennis ball which landed right by my feet. He plunged after it...imagine a 120 pound dog trying to dive for a ball at your feet while you're driving down the highway! I about wrecked that van. I got ahold of that tennis ball and out the window it went! I don't generally litter, but it seemed much safer that the ball go out the window than back to that dog! So no more tennis balls for Fred!
He now has two rubber rats to play with. I bought one of them for him back at the first of October. RJ threw it up in the tree in the front yard. Not on purpose, but there it was nonetheless. So the next day I bought another rubber rat for Fred and the one in the tree came down with the help of the wind. So he has two of them now. Only problem with the rats is that they keep ending up in the trees or on the roof. One of them is on the roof of the burned house right now. Susan threw it up there the other day, again, not intentionally. She seldom plays with Fred but for some reason she thought it a good idea to do so that day. Then the day before yesterday Ma threw the other rat up on the roof of the house. Again, not intentionally. But Fred has no rats to play with at the moment cause no one has climbed up on the roofs to get them down. I'm hoping the fierce wind that's blowing out there today will help out in that endeavor and the rats will come down from the roofs. We will see. He really likes his rats. They are identical. Black rubber rats made for Halloween. He chewed the whiskers off both of them right off the bat! I'm really surprised they are both whole with the except of the missing whiskers. They both squeak. That in itself is a miracle. He hates squeaky things usually. Has to find that squeaker and destroy it! He hasn't done that with the rats though. I have quit trying to figure that dog out though...


Susan has invited me to supper but I declined that offer. She's going to call me in about an hour and I'll go over for some desert. Ma is bringing chocolate cake apparently. I remember when we were all still kids. Ma baked a cake almost every single day for desert. Cakes from scratch, not from a box! I'll brave the wind and cold to eat some of Ma's cake! I declined the offer for supper cause I've already eaten and there isn't room in me for roast beef and potatoes. Darn! Roast beef and tators sounds really yummy!

RJ and RW were supposed to show up today to work on my van but I've not seen hide nor hair of either of those boys. It's been way too windy today though to be out there in that drive way working on that van in the cold. RJ has figured out what is wrong with it though and that is the first step. I'm a patient soul. Probably too patient actually, but that's neither here nor there on this matter. The van will get fixed eventually. I don't seem to have missed having wheels for almost a month so I'll get along without wheels for a while longer.

I'm done rambling for the time being so I'll close this one out. You all be good to one another. Smile at a stranger, give a helping hand and go get your hugs!
Changes are a'comin' folks! Let's embrace them for the good of ALL!
Peace
831

Followers