Happy Boxing Day!

I have been a very busy body for the last four days! Today was 'Turn off the Tree Day' for me. That actually happened yesterday but I was headed to bed and figured it's sometimes best to be ahead of yourself. The dishes, on the other hand, are about three days behind. I've not a single baking utensil clean in that kitchen.
I baked 25 dozen cookies, made 5 Activity Books, Made a glittery 3 x 3 inch box with a lid, put up the Tree and decorated the livingroom and a wrapped a whole bunch of presents in the last six days. And that's not even including the four parties I've been to in the last four days! I'm whooped.

Ronnie, Terah, Brenton and Annabel came to see me on the 23rd. They were here for about seven hours. I fed them fried potatoes with onion and keilbasa for supper before they headed out ahead of the storm that is blowing out as I type. We exchanged gifts, had some laughs, mauled Annabel and generally had a great time. I am the very proud owner of two new sets of markers! (I'll show what I've created with them tomorrow.) New colors. Total of 24 colors, two sizes of marker. I'm in hog heaven! I also got some really cool bath things. Gives me a reason to get into that garden tub in the corner of my bathroom. A nice long soak in a hot tub would feel pretty good on this tired old body of mine! I've wore it out. It needs a good long rest, I think.
That bath won't happen tonight, but it sure does sound like something to put on the list of what needs done!
Was good to see the oldest son and his family. They got me a new cell as well as the markers I like so well. I promptly lost that cell phone in a drunken game of poker 36 hours later.
Christmas Eve Afternoon Richard, Lue, Gage, Grant, Gabe and Gavin spent a few hours here with me. Others were present also, as they were the day before when RJ's brood was here. Ma, Sam, Susan, Courtney, Justin, Me, and those named previously. We also had an extra dog in the house as Scoot came along with J and C. No biggie.
It is quite noisy in a house when there are that many people in it and four of them are under the age of eleven. RW acts like he's not quite 12 yet sometimes regardless of the fact he's actually 25.
They gave me the gifts of their presence and more hugs than one person deserves in a day! RW scooped some snow for me as well.
We had an excellent day with number 2 son and his bunch.
Christmas Day the snow was blowing and going! We had about 8 inches on the ground by Christmas Morning. The wind was blowing steady at 30 miles per hour, gusts up to 45 mph. The temperature was a whole 2. Not sure what the windchill was but it was not fit for man nor beast outside on Christmas Day.
Round about 11 Sam showed up at my house. He knew he had to brave the cold & blowing snow because he'd never hear the end of it if he missed Christmas Day when he only lives 2 miles away. I asked him to pick me up at my house cause it was way too cold out there to walk across the back yard to Susan's house where everyone was gathering. Everyone being: Justin, Courtney, Aunt Sherry, Sam, Me, Susan, Jerry, Linda and Ma. What a bunch! LOL Sam's a good brother so he did just as he was asked to do. We were due at Susan's by noon. We got there about 15 after. Fred had to go with us cause Fred can not be trusted in the house alone. Susan let him come inside at her house. That's a treat for Fred cause he doesn't always get to go inside at her house.
Dinner was yummy, and noisy. Noisy because we are noisy folks. We had turkey, dressing, broccoli with cheese sauce, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn and rolls. I made the broccoli with cheese sauce. That cheese sauce reminded me of gravy...thick milk gravy. It was tasty as all get out but it LOOKED like pale orange gravy. Sam put it on his mashed potatoes cause he thought it WAS gravy. It was a big hit nonetheless. I didn't bring any home with me.
There was pumpkin crisp and somekind of cake with white icing and chocolate pie for dessert. I did not have any dessert because I wasn't in need of a sugar fix.
I got some cool things for Christmas! I'll give the best I got from everyone.
Susan gave me ..... she gave me a few things I really like! The big green candle holders are quite nice and the little man figurine is just too funny. I collect men, you know. So I always get at least one man for Christmas. This one is a middle aged balding fella with a pot belly laying on a beach chaise with a drink in his hand, flowered shorts upon his mid section and red umbrella waving on a metal spring above his head. It is adorable! She also gave me (and everyone else also) a Hickory Farms Gift Pack. I ate the whole thing last night! It was DELICIOUS!

Linda gave me...2 poetry anthologies which I will read from cover to cover eventually.

I forget what Aunt Sherry gave me. It'll come to me when I put all that stuff away, but it escapes me totally at the moment.

Justin and Courtney gave me a nice little silver metal box with a fairy on the front of it.

Jerry gave us all a tin of cookies.

After we opened pressies at Susan's we bundled up and rode on over to Ma's house, which you all know is right next door to Susan's house. It was terriblyl cold out there and the wind was blowin' '90 miles an hour'! Walking was out of the question!
Fred was banished to the outside for the duration of our stay at mother's house. He's too big and that tail is way too lethal for the likes of the magazine picture setting in Ma's livingroom.
We opened more gifts at Ma's house. She gave me many things! Among them a goodly amount of glue sticks, 2 bracelets, many elephants, and a lot of other things that escape me at the moment. The thing I like the best that Ma gave me is a small stained glass cross done in green with a little metal tag that says "Bless My Dog". It made me smile big time!
After we all opened our presents there I stuck around at Ma's house while Sam took Aunt Sherry back to town and everyone else had gone to Susan's house or gone home.
Ma had let Fred in her house right before Sam left. I didn't know she had done that till Fred came into the livingroom where I was. As I said, it was terribly cold out there on Christmas Day and she said,the same as Susan had said, "It's too cold out there for Fred." I wasn't arguing with them, it was too cold out there for Fred. Thing is Ma never has ever let Fred in her house! Ever! Just kinda floored me and made me all giddy at the same time. You know? It was all good. Fred was as happy as a little clam in a mud bank. His tail is lethal! He only whacked one thing off the end table by the sofa...a little green glass tree.
So that was a good thing....
Christmas Day ended around 9pm when Sam and I finally headed to our own houses and Jerry and Susan headed to town to spend the night at Jerry's house. We played poker and drank Jack Daniels and Coke for about three hours. I only had 1 drink and I didn't even finish it. I don't like the taste of Jack Daniels and I didn't care to puke my guts out on Christmas Day! I had fun in the state I was in. I wasn't drunk, but I was buzzed. I lost my new cell phone in that poker game. I had very little in my pockets to begin with. We didn't plan this poker game, it was a promptu affair. I was taking pens out of Susan's basket and using them to bet with! I figured I better throw in something that belonged to me besides half a cigarette and a lighter. I never did actually win that cell phone back. Susan did put it back in the pot once, but I got a lousy 2 lost it back to her again. So technically, she owns my cell phone... I did lose it fair and square. She also owns Sam's watch. She was gracious enough to give them back to us to keep in our possesion though. She will not let us forget this.
Then today marked DAY 4 of the holiday parties. I was elected to ride to Elaine and Monty's with Sam at noon. No problem even though neither one of us wanted to even get dressed and go anywhere, let alone 23 miles north in blinding snow. We did it though. The north south roads were clear. Driving was not a problem. The wind was a bit much but doable. It wasn't near as cold today as it was yesterday!
We had turkey noodle soup, some cheesy potatoes, pumpkin pie, lemon meringe pie and chocolate pie (as Elaine announced....all courtesy of Marie Calendar). And tasty devils they were too! I really don't know if the pumpkin or chocolate pies were tasty. I didn't eat any of those. I had lemon meringe and it was tasty!
Elaine gave me a pair of bright red fuzzy socks and some foot lotion. I love my new socks! They will keep my feet toasty warm!
While we were in Pburg, Sam and I tried to find #2 son to give him a present from his Aunt Linda. I had brought it with me. We went to his house but couldn't even get in the driveway there and the van wasn't there anyway so we went to Subway to see if Lue was working. There's the van in the parking lot. Cool. I put that plastic sack I'd grabbed from the counter in the kitchen into the driver's seat of their van. Sam and I drove back to Stockton and I came home. I walked into the kitchen and there's a plastic sack sitting on the counter in the kitchen. I forgot there were two of them to begin with. The one I took with me felt the right weight to be a loaf of banana bread and pan of candy. I never bothered to take a look inside of it. I opened up the sack on the counter in the kitchen and there was the banana bread and candy. The sack I put in the front seat of their van contained my blue and white glass casserole dish.
About the time I discovered I'd grabbed the wrong sack, Lue was getting into the van finding the wrong bag. She told me she wondered who put it there, but 'way cool' cause she doesn't have a dish that big. She thought someone had given it to her for Christmas a day late.
She just laughed when I told her what I had done. I gave her the casserole dish, told her to keep it. I have another one that looks exactly like it the kitchen cupboard. Only difference between them is the one in the cupboard is an ugly yellow color.
It all worked out and we all got a good laugh. I haven't told Sam about it yet....He will give me hell. LOL It's all good though.
It was good to see Monty and Elaine today. Elaine loved her Christmas Card from me. Come to think of it, everyone loved those cards... I didn't make them. I bought them on clearance a few years ago for 25 cents each. They have little wooden pieces on them. They are stand up cards. Very cute. I was glad everyone got a kick out of them.
Only things left to do to see Christmas out the door is do up all the baking untensils that are scattered about the kitchen and take down the tree.
I'm glad the chaos is over and peace can once again reign for a bit.

I didn't forget the reason for the season. My grand daughter is the new life and it was He that gave all of us life. Love abounds because of Him.

I hope you all had the happiest of holidays. Regardless why you celebrate the Christmas Season, or how you celebrate, may it have been a joyous celebration. Peace, my friends! 831

A little Art, A Little Chatter and A Little of Nothing

Lotta Little going on here!
I'm gearing up for Christmas. Got my lists made, some of them checked twice, others not checked at all. I have cookies and rum balls to make in the next few days. I see days of no sleep coming up to get everything done that should be done before Monday rolls around. Yes, I know Christmas isn't till Friday, but Monday is a stellar day in my world and Christmas will occur that day whether I like it or not! And it's not that I don't like it that way, it's just that that is the way it is and there's not a thing I can do to change that! So we'll just go with the flow and hope all is accomplished by the deadline!

I've been arting things here in the last few days. I've not taken scans of most of it cause it's not really all that photogenic. Activity books for the grandsons. I drew only 5 pictures in the books and none of them are spectacular! So no pictures of the Activity Books. I am in the process of making a little box for one of my daughters-in-law. It is not completed yet. I'm waiting for the fantasy snow to dry to finish it. No picture of it either, I'm afraid cause it's a BOX and boxes do not scan well. (I'm hoping Santa brings me a new digital camera so I can take pictures of 3D art when I make it.)
I have a few inchies and couple of ATCs to show you all today. Enjoy.

No need to make a long explanation about them. You all know the inchies are sharpies/markers on recycled cardstock. Except for the playing card inchies are collages made with miniature playing cards. And the ATCs are collages from various images found in magazines and what have you. The You Tube one is a cartoon I found and cut the main characters out of. So, essentially it isn't even really orginal art.

My Christmas Tree is up and lit. Only a few of the lights didn't ignite so we've not too many bare spots on the tree. Lola Kid has discovered the tree and this morning I found 6 ornaments on the floor beneath the tree. That kitten will give me something to pick up from the floor every morning, I am sure! The tree will come down the 2nd of January.

I have cookies to bake tomorrow. Rum balls should have already been made so they have time to steep...Rum Balls are always better if you let them set for a few days before you eat them! Aunt Sherry really likes rum balls and she is the reason they are getting made. I will be making chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and brownie bites also.

I'm feeling a bit out of sorts today for some reason. Once a month I get down in the dumps...always happens for no apparent reason. I've really no complaints about my life. It is what I make it to be. Only I can make changes to it. The blues will pass.

I'm going to my brother's house in a bit to play cards with my youngest son, his wife and my brother, Sam. Should be a good evening out! Again, it will only be as fun as I make it.

I've been waiting on a phone call from a friend that probably won't ever arrive. I've been waiting for almost five months for that call. Why have I waited this long? Because I'm a patient soul, that's why! And I think this is part of the troubles with the blues today. For some reason I woke up this morning thinking surely today is the day for that call to come. I would make the call myself but I can't bring myself to pick up the phone and dial that number when that friend should have called months ago and I'm not going to call. If this person thinks anything of me as a friend then they should be the one to pick up the phone and dial my number. I've not gone anywhere. Nothing has changed in my feelings. I'm just waiting.

I have to go get ready for my night out. I shall return again in the next few days. You all go get some hugs! I'm planning on gathering a few tonight!

Peace

831

It's Still Cold, A Week Later....

It is still cold as the dickens out there in my neck of the woods!
Water pipes are froze again this morning. Twice in the last eight days! I will be so happy when the work gets done on the house to eliminate all those troubles that cold weather presents!
Internet was down for two days because of the ice on the antennea and on the tower that services my area. I wasn't the only one without internet service.
I never did hear the totals on the snow fall but it has snowed twice in the last eight days. We still have a boatload of snow on the ground, though there are bare spots where no snow lays. We had a lot of wind a few nights ago that scattered the snow into drifts as deep as your knees and left other areas on the ground with the brown grass showing through.
The starlings (birds) were quite happy to find those bare patches of ground. There was a whole flock of the noisy little critters out in the back yard yesterday. Must of been 30 of them! How do birds stay warm anyway? They are tiny little critters and I'd think as cold as it is out there, their little feet would freeze! I threw a package of old cookies out in the yard for the starlings. They snarfed up the crumbs quickly!
I need a new computer! I'm in hopes Santa will bring me one,but I'm not going to hold my breath either! This one needs an overhaul. It would probably be cheaper to just give this one an overhaul than to buy a new one. Maybe I should talk to 'Santa' about that?
I dragged the tree in the house yesterday. RJ helped. I've yet to get it decorated and set where it will set for the duration. (That sucker is coming down the 2nd of Jan!) Lola has already discovered it and climbed to the top. Once I add the ornaments, that little cat is going to have a gay ol' time taking the ornaments off!
Doobie sat herself on fire the other day. Cat is almost 15 yrs old and she's never set herself on fire before! I had a candle burning on the desk and she sat way too close to it. POOF!--Up in flames she went! The whole right side of her! She's none the worse for the wear except she's minus some fur and her whiskers are a mess! Luckily I was sitting right here when it happened and I got her put out very quickly! (Quick thinking always pays off!) She wouldn't talk to me for the rest of day but we're back on good terms and she's forgotten all about it. She's not looking quite as lovely as she did pre-fire but she's absolutely unscathed. Her poor tail is a mess. Where she once had a nice flowing tail, she now has a not so flowing tail! She's a knob of singed hair on the end of her tail! The whiskers on the right side of her head are only about an inch and a half long now. The other side's whiskers are almost 4 inches long! She'll grow that fur back and those whiskers eventually.
Lesson learned: No lit candles on the desk! Set them on the shelf where that fool cat can't sit beside them and light herself ablaze again!
I've been doing artwork but have none scanned to show you all. I am almost to the goal of 1000 inchies. Still have about 3 dozen to complete to hit the goal. I just haven't had time to sit down and make inchies to get to the goal. Not sure just how many are in the little basket, ready for scanning....that is on my agenda for the day. To figure out just how many inchies I do need to hit that goal!
I've made 7 books this week. Five activity books for the grandboys, a hard cover blank book for my brother and another activity book/coloring book for Evelyn. The book I made for my brother turned out really good! It has a fish made out of postage stamps and chocolate wrappers on the front of it. I'll scan it before I wrap it. The activitiy books for the boys are coloring pages, blank sheets of various papers and envelopes all bound into books. Evelyn's book is mostly coloring pages. I snagged all the coloring pages, save for three of them which I drew, from the WWW. The kids and Evelyn will be getting crayons to go with their books.
I've crocheted 7 cat toys in the last 2 days also. I haven't picked up a crochet hook to crochet with for ages! I wasn't sure my hands would hold out to be doing that but they are doing pretty good. They hurt, but then they always hurt regardless what I do with them! Stuffing those little balls is the hardest part of the process. That kills my hands! I still need a few more of those cat toys for gifts.
I am not ready for Christmas to be here. There wasn't enough time to prepare! LOL...yeah right! I only had a whole year! I always say I am going to start early in the year to get everything done but somehow that just never happens!
I haven't even started wrapping gifts yet.
I'll be doing my baking next week. Three kinds of cookies, brownie bites and rum balls! Need to go shopping for the rest of the ingredients I'll need to make those goodies.
A deer came through the yard the morning before last. I had gone to town quite early...around 6a.m. and when I got back from town, there between the burned house and the house I live in were huge deer tracks. Only one set, but there nonetheless. Right down the driveway, across the front yard and over the highway to the other side. The highway is clear but the deer wasn't dead on the road so I'm assuming it made it across the highway. Deer don't generally come quite that close to the house! Wish I could have seen the critter that made those tracks! Must of been a buck from the size of them!
All my critters are fine. Fred is a crazy dog, just like he's always been and Billy is a lazy cat, just like he's always been. Doob beat the stuffing out of Lola twice yesterday. Doob's PMSing I do believe, she is a cranky old girl these days! Lola is into everything, just like she always is!
The Etsy store is getting closer and closer to being a reality. More on that in the coming months.
The trailerhouse shed is closer and closer to being history! I'll be glad to see that eyesore gone! It is almost emptied of its contents. Still a lot of stuff out there to be moved to the burned house but that project has been put on hold for the time being. It's way too cold out there right now. Only two rooms still to really clean out. Most of the stuff in the west room has already been gone through so it won't take long to move it out of the shed and into the burned house once it warms up a bit!
We'll be having a bonfire on the patio soon. The wood pile is huge and it has to be burned off to get rid of it. With snow on the ground, now would be a perfect time to burn but I haven't the time, not the want-to to stand out there and keep an eye on it while it does burn. So, that will have to wait till a later date.
I've added a couple books to the list of books read this year.
I'm out of here for the time being. I shall yak at you all later.
Get your hugs! I'm sorely lacking in the hug department.....
Peace
831

Cold Tuesday To You!

My thermometer in the livingroom says it is 18 degrees F outside. The wind is blowing. I know that from looking out the backdoor at the flag on my sister's flagpole. Looks to be blowing at a right nice clip. I'm thankful to have a warm house to reside in today!
Still working on inchies. Did a few this morning to add to the others that still need color. Slowly that goal is being accomplished.
I cut ATC blanks for a little while before I got sick of doing that. It's rather boring! I cut a few twinchies and some inchies as well. I emptied the inchie box in the cutting room into my little tin where I keep inchie blanks on the desk, yesterday. Won't need to fill that little box for awhile.

I really don't have a hell of a lot to say of importance today but I think I need to post more often to this blog. I seem to only post when I have artwork scanned to show you all. Artwork is not the whole sum of my life! Though...there is very little else to talk about somedays. Like today.
I slept all of Monday away and have been up all night==AGAIN~!

I should be in the livingroom going through that stack of snail mail that's cluttering up my desk in there. I need to pay the electric bill and see how much money I have in my bank account to see if I have enough to help my oldest out with paying his insurance for his car this month. He's helped me out plenty so it's no big deal to help him out sometimes too. Just have to have enough to do that.
I have some envelopes to get ready to mail out. Artwork traveling the world over...

Instead I am sitting here yapping at folks I can't see and rambling, saying not much of anything. I am listening to music while yapping at you all. Got Kenny Chesney singing about an old blue chair right now.


Old Blue Chair
Kenny Chesney

there's a blue rocking chair
sitting in the sand
weathered by the storms
and well-oiled hands
it sways back and forth
with the help of the winds
seems to always be there
like an old trusted friend
i've read a lot of books,
wrote a few songs
looked at my life
where it's going
where it's gone
i've seen the world
through a bus windsshield
but nothing compares
to the way that i see it
to the way that i see it
to the way that i see it
when i sit in that old blue chair

from that chair i caught
a few fish and some rays
and i've watched boats
sail in and out of cinnamon bay
i let go of a lover
that took a piece of my heart
and prayed many times
for forgiveness and a brand new start
i've read a few books,
wrote a few songs
looked at my life
where it's going
where it's gone
i've seen the world
through a bus windshield
but nothing compares
to the way that i see it
to the way that i see it
to the way that i see it
when i sit in that old blue chair
　
that chair was my bed
one new year's night
when i passed out
from too much cruising and dining
i woke up to a hundred mosquito bites
i swear
got 'em all sitting right there
in that old blue chair
there's a blue rocking chair
sitting in the sand
weathered by the storms
and well oiled hands

I'm not sure if Kenny Chesney wrote that song or not. He does sing it though. It's a nice song! Now I got John Mellencamp singing.

I'm headed to the kitchen to stack the dishes .... do something productive.
You all get your hugs on this cold Tuesday. Might warm you up some! :)
Peace
831

What the heck? Let's have ART Monday!

There's snow on the ground this morning. It got there yesterday. About two inches? I'm guessing there. Not a whole lot, but it's cold and white outside!
I spent Saturday night making the 'found poetry' ATCs below at my sister's house with her and Jerry. Some were made months ago that somehow never got scanned. Went through my availables notebook comparing what was there with what is in the availables file on my pc.
Enjoy!

Sinterklaas ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. I wrote a Sinterklaas poem for a girl who lives in Belgium. She needed it in English and was having trouble rhyming the verses so she asked for help from someone who speaks English as a first language (only language in my case.) I gave it a shot and she was very pleased with my efforts. I got the idea for this card from that request. She sent me to Wikipedia so I could learn something about Sinterklaas. Thanks, Christa, for letting me make the attempt with your verses. Sinterklaas actually has a white beard and hair but I don't own a white marker so gray it is.

It's Amazing ATC

Collage on linen textured cardstock. Images came from magazine pages except for the keys which are from a collage sheet someone sent me with an ATC I had traded for. Text is from a young adult's novel. I made this one for the 'found poetry-a-thon' over at AFA this weekend. I have not traded any of the found poetry cards.

Haywire ATC

Collage on linen textured cardstock. Images are from magazine pages and a children's book. Text comes from magazines, a coffee table book and a young adult novel.

Green Leaves ATC

Markers on cardstock. This one was done in October 2009 and it did not get scanned at that time for whatever reason.

For The 21st Century ATC

Collage on linen textured cardstock. This isn't exactly 'found poetry' but that is the reason it got done, cause I was making found poetry cards at the time. Text is from magazines, junk mail and a coffee table book. Picture is from junk mail. Background is part of a page out of a book about interest rates.

Flamingo 4 ATC

Collage on playing card. Foil papers, black cord, black pipecleaner, black seed bead and lots of diamond glaze to cover it all. This one was made way back in November 2008 and never got scanned. I always wondered why no one ever took this one off my hands everytime I looked through my availables notebook. That was cause no one had ever seen it!

Elephant Trouble ATC

Collage on linen textured cardstock. Elephant is free-hand cut from textured wallpaper. Background image is from a seed catalog, crown is metallic paper and there's a googly eye there too. Text comes from the young adult novel and the coffee table book.

Crazy ATC

Collage on linen textured cardstock. The background is a Customs Slip from the back of an envelope that arrived in my mailbox in Kansas from Finland. Images come from junk mail, magazines and a cooperate report for an insurance company. There's part of a map on there as well. Text is from a young adult novel. On the backside is more text, reading: "Where is my stethoscope?" which is from a coffee table book.

Twinchies

Blue Finland and Mushroom Susan

Blue Finland is collage on recycled chipboard. Satin ribbon, used postage stamp from Finland, Light blue paper and green crepe paper.

Mushroom Susan is markers on linen textured cardstock.

I'm still working on the inchies. Have 8 more completely done and ready to scan. And 9 more that need colored before they can be scanned. I will meet this goal! Yeah!!!!

I've added another book to the list of books read this year. Gump & Co. puts me at 53 books read. I may add to that list before the year is completely gone. We'll see.

Here's hoping the world is being good to each of yous. I won't complain. I'm doing pretty good for a change!

Get you some hugs today... and even better, give some hugs!

Peace

831

It's ART Friday, People!

The weekend is upon us and more art will be made over the weekend! There's a Found Poetry-a-thon over at AFA (link up there in the upper left hand corner) and I will participating! That starts at 5pm this evening. I've been making preparations all week for it!
What is Found Poetry, you ask? It is just what it sounds like. You are challenged to write a short poem, a few lines, with words from magazines, books, wherever you can find printed words and then you cut out the words of your poem and along with an illustration of some sort you create an ATC. Should be a lot of fun! And you lucky folks get to see what my old brain comes up with over the weekend~!

The old muse has been alive and well these past few days. All the ATCs here were done between Monday and Thursday. I'll shut up and let you enjoy the artwork and commentary (guess I won't be shutting up afterall! ;) ).

Zentangle Christmas ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. This one was done for the group I belong to over at AFA, Zentangles With A Twist. The theme for this week was 'gifts'. (Something like that anyway.)
Tippy ATC
Markers on linen textured cardstock. I was in need of a cat ATC for a trade I recieved in the mail last week. Tippy didn't make the cut but he got drawn nonetheless. Someone will adopt him before too long. My kitties do not linger in my gallery for long.

No Shoes ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. Sometimes when the muse is alive and kicking I will take inspiration from wherever it comes! This one was inspired for a request for 'an anthill with a foot nearby'. OK, no problem! I whipped this out and traded it not more than two hours after I had put it in my gallery. I'll be getting a card titled "Giraffe Caged" for this one. It will be headed to London come Monday or Tuesday when I make it to the post office.

Looking Up ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. I was surfing through Google Images for a cityscape to draw. Inspriation for this one came from a photograph being offered by a Stock Photo site. Mine doesn't look much like the photograph though. This one wasn't in my gallery for even an hour before it was traded. I'll be getting "Plaid Boy" in exchange for this one. Wisconsin is its destination.
Someone needs to clean the scanner bed to get rid of all that crap that isn't really on the cards!

Earl ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. Earl made the cut for the cat I needed in trade for an elephant. He will be headed to Oklahoma come Monday or Tuesday.

Brine Shrimp ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. I didn't even know what the heck brine shrimp look like till a request was made for one. I traded this fella for an elephant. The girl wanted a 'cute little brine shrimp'. I hope this one is cute enough for her! It will be headed to Oklahoma along with Earl.

Blue Ice ATC

Markers on linen textured cardstock. I was surfing Google Images for penguins. I didn't find any penguins that looked even remotely like this fella. I looked at pages and pages of penguins and nothing struck me as very inspirational from all the penguins I had to choose from. So I gave up the hunt for a penguin and was surfing for polar bears instead. I found a photograph of a polar bear on an ice flow. I liked the way the ice flow receeded into the background and this penguin appeared out of nowhere. He's still waiting for a home.

Blue Frog 2 and Blue Frog

Twinchies

Markers on linen textured cardstock. These two were made at my sister's house. Me, her and her friend Jerry were all sitting around making inchies when I decided to make twinchies instead. Susan had her laptop out and we googled Blue Frogs. Everyone made their own rendition of a blue frog. I'm a faster drawer than those two are so I ended up with two blue frogs on Twinchies whereas they both did one blue frog on Inchies. I know Blue Frog 2 doesn't really look like a frog at all, he's more dinosaurish.

I haven't traded any twinchies yet. I haven't put any up for trade yet. These two will end up in my gallery before it's all said and done.

And of course, you all knew there would be inchies today!

I'm up to 938 by the count of scanned inchies.

I accidentally deleted one set of inchies from this post. I don't have any clue how to retrieve them back to this post so you all will just have to be content with 4 dozen instead of 5 dozen inchies!

I will meet my goal of 1000 inchies this year with no problem at all! I have another 16 that need color put to them so I'm well on my way! Inchies are on my agenda this morning too.

Not a whole lot happening in my world these days. It's 3 a.m. I got up at 1 a.m. after having gone to bed around 4p.m. yesterday. I slept good but it's that sleeping at odd hours that riles me! Nothing I can do about it though so I just go with the flow!

I need to call the drs office this afternoon to see if they have the results from all those tests I had done last week. Must not be anything out of kilter too badly if they haven't sent the results along to me?

The kids were up on Saturday the 28th of November. Got to see my little Annabel for a few hours. She is growing like crazy! How fast they grow!!!! Saturday was also my nephew's 30th birthday. We had a party for him. Ice cream cake and presents. Can't believe the boy is already 30! Like I said, How fast they grow!!!!

Sometime this coming week I will drag all the Christmas stuff into the house and set the tree up. I think the tree is the only thing that will be put out besides the Nativity Scene. I don't trust that Lola Kid (aka Terrorist Cat) cause I'm afraid she's going to climb the tree and scatter ornaments everywhere! It's bad enough the dog whacks the ornaments off the tree with his tail, I can only imagine what fun that kitten will have with a tree full of bright red balls!

I hit my goal of 50 books read this year and pretty much petered out on the reading since then. I've been working on a Louis L'Amour novel titled Callaghen for the last two weeks or so. Skinny little book that shouldn't have taken a day to read....it is hard going, not cause the book is a dud, but because Donna is a dud at reading right now. Too many other things to accomplish! I did try reading some on it yesterday before falling asleep but that little Terrorist Cat wasn't cooperating in that department. Why is it cats think they have to sit atop anything you are trying to read? I should have this book finished in the next few days. I've only about 20 pages left to read.

Yesterday I posted my SEVEN LOVES and promised I would try to link to Margaret's blog. Here's my attempt to do just that! You can find Margaret's blog here. Go see what she had to say about her seven loves.

Have yourselves a FANTASTIC FRIDAY and don't forget to collect and give your ration of hugs! It makes everyone happier!

Peace

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Seven Loves

I always read Margaret Evans Porter's blog when I get the chance. If I knew how to put in links off the top of my head, I'd give you a link to Margaret's blog. And I will try to accomplish that when I finish my thoughts here.
She wrote today about her SEVEN LOVES and invited anyone who reads to consider themselves tagged to write about their seven loves so here goes:

1. PEOPLE: My children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law and all my brothers and sisters. I have two sons, 5 step-grandsons and a brand new granddaughter. So with two sons, I have two daughters-in-law as well. Both are good to their men (my sons) and good to me also.
I have six sisters and two brothers to love too! There are a few folks who can say they have that many siblings and I'm sure they feel as blessed as I do having that many siblings!
I haven't a lot of friends but the ones I do have are quite special for various reasons. Some of those friends I have never actually laid eyes on. I know them only through this blog and from other sites I frequent online.

2. ANIMALS: If the world were devoid of animals what a lonely, lonely place the world would be. People are essential to living, but my companion animals are just as important as the people in my life.
The wild critters who traipse through my space on a daily basis bring only joy. Even those little rodents who tear stuff up out in the storage shed are here for a reason and the world would not be the same without them.
I share my space with three cats and a dog. I used to keep pet rats too. My life would be quite empty without my critters to entertain me, love me unconditionally and keep me company. The dog never complains when I forget to feed him cause the cats raise enough ruckus to make up for his silence!

3. CREATIVITY: My own and others'. Without the creativity of others inspiring my own creativity, I'd not be making art. There was a time in my life when I didn't think I would ever be able to pick up a pencil again let alone make a semblence of something coherent.I fought with my body to make the arms work good enough to control a writing instrument.
How dull life would be without colors, textures, beauty in many different forms....
I really don't have any favorite artists, writers, ect. I will read just about anything I can get my hands on and I like many different genres of artwork.
There's joy in taking a blank sheet of paper and putting your own mark on it. Whether that mark ends up being a group of words or a picture, there is a lot of joy derived those activities.
There are so many people in the world who can not read the words I've typed onto this computer screen and I know I am blessed because I can read these words and the words of others.
Visual art is a joy any of us can hold in our hands, make with our hands, dream in our minds! I do not take that for granted these days!

4. MUSIC: If I were to lose one of my senses, I'd much rather live in a world of silence than darkness. Though that is a very hard choice to make. I do love music. And like books and artwork, I enjoy many different genres of it! I will listen to anything at least once. The good thing about music is that there is so much to choose from, no one should be at a to find something that brings them good feelings. That is what music should do: stimulate the senses. It should make you feel good, make you reconsider some points of view, make you be glad to be alive!
One thing I do wish I could do is make music. I am tone deaf, can't hold a tune and have little desire to commit to the discipline like one must commit to make music. I tried to teach myself to play the guitar a few years back. Reading music is like reading Swahili! Can't read either one! Musicians amaze me that they can pick up an inanimate object (their instrument....whatever that instrument is) and bring that object to life with sound! That is AMAZING! Some of us are meant to make the music and others of us are meant to simply enjoy it! I'm an enjoyer of music.

5. FOOD AND DRINK: As humans we all need food and drink to simply survive. The better the food and drink the happier we humans are with it! I am not really fond of cooking these days only because cooking for one is not near as fun as cooking for a crowd.
I do like to eat though so I am forced to cook on occasion. I do not like 'convience food'. I found that out for certain last night when I bought some roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy that you just stick in the microwave and heat it up. That wasn't real food! It didn't look like real food. It didn't taste like real food. Mashed potatoes should taste like potatoes, not the package they came in!
Roast beef with vegetables, potatoes and gravy is my very favorite meal. To all you vegetarians out there, I understand where my food comes from and I do understand that animals die because I think they are tasty morsels. If I could change the way food is produced in the world these days, I would. I don't think that my giving up beef (and chicken and pork and turkey and and) is going to change the atrosities that happen daily in the world. Humans don't really need meat in their diets but that is how I was raised and I've been eating meat for damn near 50 years! I don't see that changing anytime soon, sorry!
I am a big veggie eater. I like almost every kind of veggie there is. With the exception of collard greens (which taste like freshly mown lawn to me). I'm not fond of black-eyed peas (which taste like dirt) and garbonzo beans (chickpeas...which just taste terrible to me). I am not a picky eater. I'll eat anything once just to give it a try. Squid and octopus didn't do anything for me either. Truth be known I just couldn't eat the baby octopi I was introduced to at the Japanese Buffet Resturant out in L.A. Haven't seen any octopi since then thankfully.
I like a variety of liquids too. Lemonade is my drink of choice when I go out to eat at a cafe. That or coffee. Can't live without my coffee in the winter. Don't drink much of it in the summer. Water is always a good choice too.

6. SLEEP: I know that sounds like a strange love but I do love to sleep. I sleep way too much sometimes and not enough at other times. My sleep patterns are all skewed but without sleep my life would be wicked! Again, as humans we all need to sleep and I'm happy to say I can and do sleep well when I sleep. All in all, though I complain about my sleep patterns, or lack thereof, I am blessed that sleep is not something I have a terrible time with. Some folks do have a terrible time sleeping and pay for it day after day. I don't.

7. FREEDOM: I am essentially free to do whatever the hell I feel like doing on any given day. Within reason anyway. I'm basically a pretty good person so there are not things of the evil variety that I partake in freely. I don't have another person to answer to in my daily life. I am free to do what pleases me and I am very thankful for that. Sometimes I wish for a partner to share all this freedom with but a partner would only limit my freedoms...not set me free.

Now it's your turn....make your own list of your seven loves.

Go get your hugs for the day!
Peace
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