MY FIRST BLOG AWARD!!!!



my friend kimberly at http://kimberleekreations.blogspot.com/ blessed me with this terrifc blog award! thank you kimberly! i feel bad that it's been so many months since i've done anything with my blog, but with having major back surgery in oct'08 and the subsequent recovery and rehab, all the holidays, and now dealing with my mother's upcoming surgery, it's just been more than hectic! but hopefully,now i will be able to get back to a more normal routine! thank you kimberly for not giving up on me!!! {{{hugs}}}




now, here are MY picks for the beautiful blog award!

1. Elizabeth Golden at http://thelastdoordownthehall.blogspot.com/
2. Patt at http://pattscreationsmadness.blogspot.com/
3. VanessaValencia at http://afancifultwist.typepad.com/a_fanciful_twist/
4. mary at http://stitchesandditches.blogspot.com/
5. melba at http://www.justbeconnected.com/
6. marci at http://marciglenn.wordpress.com/
7. kevin at http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/
8. liss at http://amemoryforever.blogspot.com/
9. tiffany at http://crazydaisy-tifscorner.blogspot.com/
10. holly at http://hollylovesart.blogspot.com/

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU I'VE TAGGED: These are the directions I received along with the award:

Come to my blog, take your butterfly, list my blog, then list 10 blog sites you would like to receive the same blog award, and list them on your favorite blogs. Leave the same message for each when you give them their blog award.

happy blogging!

books and bottles and cartons oh my!

i am currently working on a 2 page spread in one person's round robin book, fixing up 3 cartons for the "art in a carton" project. i just got the next book i'm doing a 2 page spread in for my round robin group, so that will have to be figured in too! and i got MY book back! i am so excited to finally see it! i love all the time, effort and talent that went into it by all these friends/artists i've come to know. i must say i'm a bit "hooked" on this whole altered book round robin thing! lol

just as a side note... i filled an extra bottle with tons of artsy stuff, and i sent it to our daughter-in-law for our 3 yr old grandcaughter elena. the afternoon it was delivered, it was late for them so they set aside the bottle. when it turned out to be way too late once they got back home for the evening, patricia (my daughter-in-law) decided they woudn't open it up till the next day because it would just be too much of a mess right before bed. so what does my granddaughter do? she sleeps with the bottle! lol kids are just so darn precious! well, most of the time! lol

only a few days left till my surgery! i go in on monday for pre-op check and also things like paperwork, going over the procedure with me/us, checking in with the anesthesia dept, etc. i'm excited over the whole surgery and having to be finally done! but am not very excited over how complicated and long the procedure will be. i know, i know, they told me it was major surgery. but i talked to somone the other day that had a friend who just had this procedure done, and they spent 3 days in the ICU before being put into a regular room! omg! the ICU! i hope that i will do well enough to just go straight into a regular room. but you wanna know the funniest thing about this whole situation? the thing that i dread the most? THEM PUTTING IN THE STUPID IV!!! LOL yep, that tiny little needle in my hand or arm. i don't know why, it just hurts so bad! i think it is because my veins like to roll away and disappear when they try to stick them... you think they are shy or something? lol they better cooperate this time!

here i am, once again spending over half my time in the land of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz due to pain meds. i had started taking them only when i absolutely HAD to because there wasn't going to be enough to last me till i go in on monday. but the nurse had miscalculated the date (i was originally suppose to go back on the 13th, but then it changed to the 20th for the pre-op check) and the amount of pills when they gave me my new presription. i'm suppose to take 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours as needed for pain. i guess it just depends on how much pain you're in and what degree you are willing to deal with every day. nope, i don't like taking drugs, if there is any way to avoid it! but i'm following the instructions for these pills and taking it very seriously. i'm taking the pills as needed, but just about every 4-5 hours. it is finally taking care of the pain again, but of course it knocks me out just about every time! ugh! i spend so much time sleeping, it's rediculous! *sigh* i am just always so tired. i am taking them enough to keep on top of and get rid of the pain, but damn! that's ok, just a few more days till i have surgery, then i can proceed onto my recovery first at home for 3 months, and then i will start working on my physical therapy. as scary as the surgery could be, i'm just trying to keep my eye/mind on the outcome, when i am healed and better. when i can actually function better and live my life to the fullest extent! stupid things like walking around the mall shopping, going up and down the basement stairs to do laundry, walking our dog, going to the park with my granddaughter, and for that matter even flying on a plane or sitting in a car for a long drive somewhere! i can't do those simple things right now! if i try, i end up in so much pain! but i'm determined to get over this, and to have a better quality of life.

well, i suppose i've rambled on way too much, again! but that's ok, it is MY blog after all. lol i'm working on putting things into cartons for my "art in a carton" project. i've really want to get them sent out before i go into the hospital for surgery. but if for some reason i don't get them sent off, i know my mom and ann will help me get them out later next week! i'm planning on including some special things to make up for how long it has taken for me to get them out and on their way to their recipients. i've already had mine for a couple weeks, and i just love it! i feel bad that the ones i am making are taking me so long, but i really didn't foresee my back/health taking such a turn for the worse. i'll keep plugging along and i'll get them done and on their way.

i've also packaged up a few other packages too. my mom wanted to send a pkg to my neice and her two little girls; kind of a combined birthday thing for all three of them! so i took 3 according books that i made and decorated them for each of them. tied them up with a pretty satin ribbon and popped them into a large plastic bottle (clean and dry of course! lol), my mom loved the whole message in a bottle idea and she wanted to send this to them in a bottle. we also put in pretty purple curly ribbons, some candy for all of them to share, some sticker sheets, and a couple other surprises. now i have to tape it up really securely and get it labeled so my mom can send it out. i've also got a pkg boxed up to go to our granddaughter elena whose 3, she'll be 4 on dec 3rd. there are some clothes that i forgot to pack in her suitcase when she went home from her last visit with us, some candy to share with her momma, a surprise for Bob (their dog!), some art/scrapbook supplies and some sparkly ruby slippers just like dorothy from the wizard of oz! lol she saw something with that, maybe an episode of dora or something, and she loved the shoes, so we just had to get them when we saw them at the store! i hope she loves them and that they fit her! lol i've also packaged up a very special halloween book that i made with a bunch of fellow artists recently it is a Vintage Halloween Fatbook. Now, the vintage halloween is easily explained... at least some of the images on each page are from vintage halloween postcard images, with the different artists adding their own touches and embellishments to them. it is spiral bound and is just awesome! i am sending this to our grandson darien who is 8-1/2 yrs old, our granddaughter izabel who just turned 6, and they have to share with their baby brother who will be 2 yrs old in december. oh! i tucked in a surprise for them for some treats too! i can't wait to get all these goodies on their way to the kiddies. i really hope they like it! i took some pictures of the halloween book and i will probably publish them on my photo site and then just put the link here... that is so much easier when there are alot of pictures!

here's the link! http://justrho.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01 hope you enjoy the pics! it was so much fun to help create!

thanks for visiting and for reading! hope everybody's weekend is going well!

rho

bottles ready to go!

well, i've worked all day getting my bottles ready to send out! it's been totally fun and i have to say a very much needed distraction from the pain. my back is just feeling worse and hurting worse every day and my surgery date can't come soon enough! first it was set for oct 17th, but then they had to change it to oct 22nd. let's hope they don't have to change it again! i have enjoyed being a part of this "Message in a Bottle" activity. i'm not sure if it was more fun to RECEIVE the bottle or to PACK them to mail out to others! LOL great idea! i will be taking them to the post office tomorrow to start them on their journey. i hope they are greeted by many smiles!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... even with art!

well, besides the last two entries i've made hear having to do with mailing contents in a container that was previously used for something else, i am having alot of fun with my friends on the RR group i belong to. several of the ladies have been sorting through their "stash" and were sweet enough to make up goodie boxes and send to the other members of the group. just odds and ends, pieces and tid bits, misc findings, etc. these are things that maybe they got a package of and only needed a few, printed and solid scrapbook paper that was mostly used but there's still enough there to use on smaller projects, remnants of all kinds of specialty papers that you just can't stand to throw out but may never use yourself, yarn, seashells, die-cuts, etc. etc. etc. i spent my evening watching tv and sorting through all my new *treasures*, and that is exactly what they are to me! i wish i would have taken pictures of the boxes of goodies when they first arrived. i guess i was too excited to get them to think about taking pictures! lol thank you stacy and kimberly! i love all of it! i am also in the process of sorting, reorganizing, and taking stock of my craft studio. i have boxes all lined up that i am filling for each of my RR friends. i'm thinking making up the boxes is almost as much fun as getting them! LOL i love the idea of artists sharing and using all that can be used from the wonderful supplies we aquire. it's a shame when something wonderful gets thrown away because someone considered it trash after using what they needed out of it. artists, especially ALTERED artists can use just about anything of just about any size! just ask us! lol of course alot of our friends and family think we've totally got a screw loose... but that's ok... if that screw loosens up too much and falls out, we'll just use it for an art project! LOL here's to recycling art supplies!

Message in a Bottle washes ashore!!!

well, another neat little project i'm part of... message in a bottle from http://www.gomakesomething.com/ ... i got my first bottle yesterday. now, it was partially broken open, but i don't think anything fell out??? hopefully not. but what was inside is awesome and i'm going to have so much fun playing with these wonderful new goodies! i can't wait to send off my own bottles to their recipients! too much fun.

a P.S. to this post... my mail carrier said that he got this as a redirected mail. meaning it got delivered to someone else. he didn't remember delivering it, which he said he really WOULD remember delivering THIS! LOL so it had to have been a substitute carrier. so apparently i would have gotten it sooner than this, but at least i finally got it! i'm glad whoever it was delivered to was honest enough to give it back so it could make it's way to me!

ART IN A CARTON IS HERE!

well! it took me a week to get pictures of my Art in a Carton, and then another week to get them off the camera and onto the computer (It's a new computer and i'm just learning how to use the darn thing!) and now finally i have a moment to post about it and add pics! thank you so much susan for allowing me to participate in this wonderful project!

here are a couple pics of the lovely package and it's contents!

The carton itself came wrapped in brown paper with the lovely and recognizable "Art in a Carton" logo on it... i was so excited to see it finally in my mailbox! when i unwrapped it, i found wonderful stamps decorating the carton itself along with these very regal and majestic elephants. wonderful!
but that was only the beginning! this little carton was filled with artsy treasures galore! pink tissue paper (I love pink! lol) was snuggled inside along with a delicious bunch of fibers/ribbons/yarn that i absolutely cannot wait to use in a project! they are soooooo soft!!! there was also a bunch of small colored foam pieces that will come in handy many times in future projects! there is a clear glass piece that has an image on the flat back of it, it's quite beautiful. the picture that was taken of it close up didn't turn out, so i'll have to try again. also included was a very pretty peach colored accordian book that was tied with a wonderful peach colored ribbon, and what looks like an altered water color box (??? am i right susan? is that what it was in it's former life?) and i just love it! it is going in the lap drawer of my desk for me to put my tiny treasures in! and it was all capped off with a handmade paper lid that fit snuggly inside the top of the carton. it is made of black embossed paper and is lovely in and of itself!

i am busily getting thing gathered and inserted into the cartons that will soon fly out of my studio and into someone else's home. hopefully they will make someone smile as much as i did! what a day brightener! what a wonderful fun project! thanks again susan! awesome idea!

if you've never heard of "Art in a Carton" before, feel free to visit the site http://art-in-a-carton.blogspot.com/ and find out more. the spots are all filled up (52 of them!) but you can check in to see what others have received by participating in this activity/project. every time i see the contents of another carton taht has been received, i get new idea for doing stuff! i love the inspiration it sparks!

what a week...

well, it's been a wierd week, productive in some ways, but definately not in others, and all around totally frustrating. *sigh* we'll see if the weekend holds any answers/solutions for issues we're dealing with so that next week will be better. i haven't worked on any art at all. which is definately disheartening to me because it always boosts my spirits and has kind of a relaxing and calming affect on me when everything around me is in chaos. the next three weeks (the time between now and my upcoming back surgery) is going to be full of preparations, lots of activity going on here! hopefully there will also be alot of creativity going on also. i have several projects that i am working on that i would like to complete or at least have nearly completed before i go in for surgery. we'll see how the upcoming week unfolds!

three bright spots in my week were receiving my first "art in a carton" pkg, a "a message in a bottle", and a box of altered art "treasures" from a fellow artist that decided to share with the other members of our small altered book RR group. i have gotten pics of the art in a carton and the message in a bottle, but not the shared treasures yet. i'll get pics taken of the shared treasures tomorrow and get the other pics off of the camera they are on and make sure i post them here to share. fun stuff! can't wait to get my hands into some new projects in which i can use some of the really neat stuff i've recieved! aren't artists super?! i think so!

for now, i'm off to finish email, look through some of our sons school stuff, feed the furbabies, and then i'm off to bed. and tomorrow is saturday! that means i don't have to wake up to an alarm! yay!!! that's just awesome. *sigh* i'll be back to share pics and stuff sometime tomorrow... until then, happy creating!

update on my back...

ok guys and gals! here's the latest and greatest with me and my back. i went for a consultation with my ortho/back doctor yesterday. to talk about what we've done so far and what the results show, etc. basically they narrowed down the source of my problem and it is not just the one blown disc pressing on nerves. it is a combination of things, but mostly what they consider to be a "mechanical" issue with my back. the actual vertibrae (L4/L5 and L5/S1) levels are really messed up and are not going to get better, they will only degenerate more. which i cannot even imagine at this point! i have already been in so much pain. i've dealt with this in some way shape or form since 1999. now it's at a point where i had to make a decision to keep going the way i am, or do something to help stabalize the whole situation and hopefully provide me with a change in my pain level and be able to function better from day to day. i do not want to take pain meds every single day/night. tentatively, i have a date of oct 17th set for surgery. it's tentative because there will be two surgeons working on me at once, so the second surgeon has to have that date open too! lol they said that the surgery will last approximately 7 hours and i will be in the hospital for approx 5 days. afterwards i will have 3 months of extremely limited activity while my back is healing (i'll be able to get up and go to the bathroom, go to the dinner table, watch tv, read, etc.), and then physical therapy to help strengthen my back and stomach muscles to help achieve a better mobility and support. the overall recuperation time is somewhere between 6-9 months. di'm not even nervous about having the surgery, i've just been in pain for so long... i can't live like that... the pain is so bad that i can't do normal everyday things. and if i take the pain meds to alleviate the pain, it does take away the pain, but it also knocks me out as well... and i end up sleeping my days and nights away and the times that i am up and awake, i lose alot of that, actually forgetting alot of stuff because i've been out of it so much. so, that's what's going on. i'll make sure to let everybody know if this becomes a definate date and all. i wanted to let you all know. ok, i'm out of here for now! lol i'll quit rambling! lol

what to do, what to do, what to do....

well, the affects of the last epidural injection (sept 3rd) gradually wore off every day untill i was back in constant pain 2-3 days before i went to get this second one. i had it done yesterday morning and they decided to do two injections so they could "bathe the root endings for my legs" since i was having pain down into both legs. ok, not a problem. and they even got the IV in with only one stick! yay! but i really didn't get any relief from the pain at all yesterday, i actually had to walk with my moms walker! i took some meds and went to bed and slept until 10:30pm, much longer than i intended to! but then i got a few things done and was up when ann got up at 1:30am to go to work. i've just been putzing around for a bit with emails and stuff. now i'm due for more meds, so i'll take them and go back to bed now. this morning there wasn't any difference in my pain level, so i may be calling them once it's late enough for them to be open. ugh. i am so tired of this.

i have a "TO DO" list that is several pages long.... NOT all of it for just ME to do!lol but there's alot of stuff. alot of it i want to get done before winter sets in. AND before the holidays get here! i cannot believe that september is nearly at an end! halloween in oct, thanksgiving in nov, christmas in dec, new years in jan, valentines day in feb.... omg, makes me tired just thinking about it! lol it's not that i HAVE to do something special for all those holidays... but i LIKE to. it feels good to me. if that makes any sense! lol

tomorrow i go in to have the color touch-ups done on my fairy tattoo! i'm so excited! i know, it's going to hurt again! lol but not as bad... so i'm ok with it. and believe it or not, i already have an image that i want to use to put on the back of the OTHER calf! lol i think they will complement each other. but i have no idea when i will get that one done. we'll just wait and see.

well, i'm falling asleep at here at the computer, so i'll say good bye for now. see ya'll later!

shot didn't last more than a week... but getting another one...

well, the epidural injection i got on sept 3rd lasted for a few days before wearing off... i'm back in pain again, which i don't like, but they're planning on doing another injection this coming wednesday. i'm not so apprehensive of this one, and i really do hope that it helps longer than the first one. even if i am eventually going to have the surgery, i'll welcome any pain relief i an until then!

i have a few art projects in the works. i sent in some fatbook pages for a vintage halloween fatbook project that one of my groups is doing. i can't wait to get the finished project! i forgot to take pics of the pages i did before i mailed them. i am so made at myself! but i'll take pics when i get mine back and i promise to post them! i am working on an alphabet fatbook with my RR group, it's still in the planning stages, but i'm still excited to be working on it. i'm also TRYING to work on an altered cigarbox shadow box project but it's moving so slowly. i'm sure it will "click" sometime soon (it always does)and i'll be able to finish it. i also have the latest RR book to work on, suppose to mail that out next thursday! yikes! but it's moving along. oh, and i have an a-z happiness fatbook project that i am working on, it's not due till nov 1st i think, so there's plenty of time for that one. anyway, i'm keeping quite busy along with the usual day to day tasks and all the dr's appts and stuff to deal with. i don't mind being busy with the art stuff... it keeps me calm and stable when everything else makes me totally insane! today i'm pretty much relaxing and taking a break from the busy week. i might even take a nap! what a thought!

what a difference a shot makes...

no, not a shot of tequila! lol an epidural shot. oh how i dreaded it! but it did make a little bit of difference in the amount of pain i have, so that's a good thing! before i was in pain ALL the time. now, i'm only in some pain when i move certain ways or if i do a bit too much. at least i'm not having to take pain meds every 4 hours around the darn clock! there is no way to accomplish much of anything that way! so now, i have to carefully play "catch up" with all the things that didn't get done while i was all loopy and sleeping most of the time! i don't quite know what to do with myself... i haven't done a bit of art in over two weeks! that's just wierd! but first, i have to catch up on household stuff... work before pleasure! tomorrow is cage cleaning day, i promised by little critters i would make them first priority on saturday. then the living room and the bathroom and... well, you know how the drill goes! lol at least one, possibly two, people are going to be out and about tomorrow so i can do things without trying to "do around", which suits me just fine! lol our son and i have been feverishly working on his high school courses that he started a few weeks ago. we've been up to our eyeballs in Civics and Literary Analysis and Composition! ack! i can't believe that high school is kicking my butt for the second time in my life! just doesn't seem fair now does it?! lol at least he's a whiz and ahead in geometry! cause i have not a clue where math is concerned! lol i'll take my blessings where i can get them! for now, i'm off to indulge in reading a book i started while waiting for my shot the other day. and then maybe a little tv. this week, although busy and having a busy weekend in front of me, still feels better than the previous weeks that have past, so i'm glad.

another week gone by...

well, it's friday night and all day i've been thinking it was thursday?! lol so much for me keeping track of time huh? i've done nothing creative this week, nothing at all, haven't had time or energy for it. school officially started full force for our son this week (was suppose to be last week but his login and password info for his virtual school courses didn't make it's way to us till this week) and we've spent the week working our patooties off to get things figured out, organized, started and caught up to date! we've got two of three subjects up to date, and this weekend we will work on the third. now, i don't mean that i am doing any of the work, he is doing the work, but i am right along with him because he has a hard time with reading comprehension/finding the answers within text, keeping things organized, and getting his thoughts down on paper or into a word documents. if it was all oral/spoken, then that would be a snap for him! but we are doing well and he is making great strides in his academic endeavers. so everybody's happy!

i have my work cut out for me this weekend. i have to clean cages (four of them), clean the litter box (just one! thank goodness!), and take pics of some stuff i am going to post to our local craigslist to sell. we are tryint to weed out stuff that is just taking up space and not getting used. and i STILL have to get my art studio finished! i have it partially done, but there is stuff spread all over the place! lol and of course i am the only one that can do it because nobody else knows what half the stuff is for or where i want it... so it's all up to me! which i really don't mind, i just have to get the spare time to do it! lol

i cannot believe how fast this month is going by! it's almost the first of september! before you know it we'll be dealing with halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, new years... yikes! a whole nother year gone by!!! wow. it's amazing how time can fly by sometimes. but it's never dull around here, something always going on, something happening, etc. so at least i'm not vegging in a chair watching soaps or news all the time. i don't read the paper, i use it to line the bottoms of cage trays. and i don't watch the news, i get the highlights from my mother who DOES watch the news. lol if there's anything noteworthy, i figure i'll hear about it eventually or see it online at some point! lol i'm horrible aren't i? the news is just so depressing! i can't do that to myself every day or mulitiple times a day. i have enough to deal with on my own.

well, i suppose i should attempt to go to sleep now. i took a nap this afternoon, which of course made me not so tired tonight! i'm hoping i can get a good nights sleep. good night and happy creating!

omg, how many days have i lost???

well, i'm taking my medicine the way the dr said i have to, but it doesn't leave me much time that i am awake and coherant! i mean, rest is good and all that, but things really do have to be done and i certainly can't do any of it if i'm sleeping! the pain is better than it was, so that is under control, which is excellent! only 4 more days till my ortho appt! yay!

it's finally time to mail out the RR book i worked on during july. it's been done for weeks and i've been chomping at the bit to get busy on another one! i've been told that the next RR book is in route to me now, so i should get it in the next few days. now i just have two other projects to get in the mail; the fat book pages for one of my groups and also the altered board book for my other group. but i HAVE to remember to get pictures of all of them before i mail them off!

i've made some headway in organizing my studio/craft room. there's still a ways to go, but it does look promising! i never thought i'd have an entire room devoted to creating art. what an awesome thing! i'm really anxious to get my sewing area set up so i can do things as the thought strikes me and not be held back by not having enough room.

i am thoroughly enjoying working on all the projects that have been started in the groups i'm a part of. each one of them offers new insight, new ideas, new techniques, etc. i love learning new things and i love collaborating with other artists.

well, it's time to go take care of furbabies and get things ready to settle down for the night. i can't believe it, but it's not even 8pm and i'm ready for bed already! maybe going to bed early will give me an early start to tomorrow. you never know... until next time... keep creating!

oh my achin' back...

well, just when i thought my back was going to settle down and give me a break... psych!... it doesn't! i feel like i'm gonna die and i'm afraid i won't! pain meds and muscle relaxers can only do so much, and when they don't work on what the problem is, it just ends up making you groggy and out of it. so, i just deal most of the time. what else can ya do? and i have to do thing here at home, there's no way around it. everybody else is helping me and being very considerate and all, but there are still things that i have to do and even those small things are really getting to where they hurt. i can't wait for the 25th to get here so i can go see the orthopedic surgeon and see what he says! i'm gonna call them on monday and see if they have any other cancellations!

my tattoo is healing nicely, it hasn't been that bad at all. sometime in september i will go in and have him touch up/add more color to it. i'm still really glad i got it. and i STILL haven't showed it to my mother! LOL yep, still chicken! i'll show her soon, i think part of it is that i want to keep the good feelings about it, you know? it feels good that i got it, it's something i've been looking forward to... and she's going to gripe and nag about it and i just don't want the negative feelings that will come my way. so if anyone is planning on "outing my tattoo" to my mom, DON'T! LOL

school starts next week for alex, he does school at home through a virtual school online. it's an extension of a kansas public school and they provide everything and keep track of all the grading and credits and stuff. it's also a college prep course of study, so it is definately challenging, but that is good for alex. he's a smart cookie. especially in math!!! wow! this year will be a bit more involved for both of us. we'll have to figure out the new "rhythem" of the new school year subjects and then we'll be good to go. the first few weeks is the hardest.

i've got to knuckle down and get some pics taken tomorrow. some of some art pieces, some of my tattoo, some of the puppy, etc. i keep getting distracted and forget about taking them. *sigh*

until next time...

i just love this stuff!!!

i finished some pages for a fat book swap that i recently joined and i am so pleased with them! i cannot wait to get the finished book back, but it won't be for a couple months yet! lol it's a book for halloween! lol what can i say, i was stressing a bit and it kept me occupied! lol anyway, it was a lovely little project and now i can move on to another one! i'll have to get some pics of the pages i did and post them, i forgot to do that! that's about it for now. i'm off to bed... early, i know... lol... but i have to get up early in the morning for a school thing we have to go to. off to dreamland!

another day, another design...

hello .... blog... lol... exhausting day today. running from here to there and doing appointments and such. no time for art. *sigh* got home LATE but pulled some art stuff out to play with while i watch "the closer" that we dvr'd earlier. figured out a new thing to do and it's really awesome, can't wait to get started with it tomorrow. i'm going to need something to do while i'm sitting and resting my back. ugh. i've done way more driving then i should be doing, but what are you gonna do? i don't have a chauffer... chaufer... oh hell... i don't have a DRIVER! lol now it is off to bed to get some much needed rest. ooops, no, not just yet. have to go feek the furbabies first. THEN to bed. tomorrow is another day and on with another design! i love it!

just another day...???

well, tomorrow is my birthday... i have no problem with my age, i will be 48 yrs old, young, whatever you want to call it! doesn't really "feel" like my birthday though. i don't know, just seems like another day. i have no feeling of "crisis" with each year i get older. if anything, i'm always quite surprised when i think about how old i am and compare that to other people who are that age or who are younger or whatever. i don't feel like i'm almost 50... but then again, maybe i don't know what "almost 50" feels like! lol i'm just glad that i am here with some family around me to help me celebrate the day i entered into this world as a seperate human being (instead of hitch hiking inside my mom's belly! lol).

right now, life is good. it has it's moments when it totally sucks, when it's unfair, when i totally wish it were different. but for the most part, i'm ok with it. it certainly has it's daily challenges, that's for sure! but i'll keep kickin as long as i can keep kickin!

i saw a sign the other day that i wanted... couldn't afford to buy it at the time, but i'm determined to make one of my own... it said:

"There will be no crisis this week... my schedule is full!"

don't ya love it?! i may change the sign to read "no crisis today" lol... might fit better around here sometimes! lol

well, i'm hungry and sitting here typing isn't helping that matter any at all! so i'm off!

Ok, so it's not done yet!

ok ok ok... i haven't gotten my studio/workroom done yet! sue me! lol it's been a long and exhausting week and i'm just now getting around to working in there tomorrow. i have been "thinking" about doing it, so does that count just a little bit??? lol hope so, cause that's as good as it got this week! tomorrow (well, today actually, but it's still dark outside so to me it isn't tomorrow just yet. lol) i have two errands to run, cages to clean for the fur babies, and then the rest of the day (and weekend as far as i'm concerned!) shall be devoted to nothing but organizing and working in my studio and doing art. i have several projects that i am working on and need to complete, some pictures to take of some art, and some brainstorming to do about an upcoming project. i just love the whole process of "creating"... it's so satisfying when everything comes together and the project is completed.

well, it's late, i'm tired, so i'm out of here. will be back later in the weekend to report progress made! have a wonderful weekend!

art done and waiting, art in the works, and art waiting to happen...

well, i'm at an interesting point... i have some projects finished and sent off, i have some that are finished and just waiting till the mailing date gets here... i have some that i am just starting on... and i have some projects that i can't start on yet but i'm dying to! lol but i guess, for an artist, that's a good place to be, because it speaks of productivity? accomplishment? well, that's my story and i'm sticking to it! lol

one thing i haven't done justice to is getting my studio in order! man, it so needs attention, and i know i am lucky as #&%$ to have a whole room to devote to my art and "stuff" (i won't use the word that ann uses to describe all my "stuff"... cause there IS alot of it! lol). life has just been a bit scattered of late and just haven't gotten back to it yet. well, to be honest, it doesn't help that it is the hottest room in the house! lol it is the sunroom, which means one whole wall basically is a bay window... and their really aren't any air conditioning vents in that room (trying to think of where they are if there are any at all...) so it's always a bit stuff and warm. i don't do well when i'm warm, much less when i'm hot and sweaty. but i really want to get the room finished and organized and all that so that as the weather cools off, as it is always going to do come fall, i will have a wonderful place to retreat to on those cold rainy or snowy days to wallow in art and be creative! and i know, that will make it the coldest room in the house then! lol BUT , there is a franklin stove/gas fireplace in there that will be so cozy! what a wonderful winter i invision! ok, so this is giving me insentive and a bit of a push to go and work on it some more! but not today, i have other stuff i have to attend to for now. no, that isn't my poor impression of scarlett from "gone with the wind"... lol... i really WILL work on it this week. ok, i'll make a deal... i'll work on my room this week, and a week from tomorrow, i will post pictures of it here on my blog! how bout that for insentive! lol i surely don't want to have to post pics of it in total chaos and disarray! if God could create the world in less than 7 days, i should be able to get my studio together in 7 days or less... dont' you think? hmmmmmmmm... quite the challenge! but we're on!

ok, off to do more laundry... ugh... NOT one of my favorite things... but totally necessary!

not my art, but it is on my body...

this is my new tattoo... it is on the back of my right calf. this has alot of significance for me because it is the fairy image that my daughter had on her computer, the fairy that she wanted to get a tattoo of when she turned 18. however, she didn't get that chance. she passed away in nov 2005 at the age of 16. she had cancer. my birthday is coming up this month, aug 10th, and ann got me this tattoo for my birthday. she knows how much i've wanted to get it. it's only the second tattoo i've ever gotten, and by far the most painful! but i'm so glad i was finally able to get it done. i love it. it will look alot better once it is less irritated and a bit more color is added. plus i will get better pics of it... this one i took myself... not easy to do when it's on the back of my calf! lol anyway, wanted to share. makes me happy.