My Day AT HOME ALONE is about over!!

Took Ian to camp...caught up on some work, typed some instructions for my butterfly banner, got on my treadmill and total gym, laundry, shower, work on my proposal stuff.....

IT WAS A FANTASTIC DAY!!

Sorry, no pictures to share!

Oh, and it's our Anniversary today!

The week is MINE!

Little V starts ecology camp tomorrow - big V starts his new job tomorrow. I start having the house to myself with the little doggie. Wow. I can't wait. Pad around in my jams, maybe get on my treadmill if it's not to hot, definetly work in my studio....I've got stuff to do!! While I was at Absolutely Everything over the weekend I took some pictures from her Tiara Class to design a blog banner for them amongst other things. I love the way it looks. This is the sample from one of her soldering classes. What do you think? Maybe I should go into the banner business.....LOL.

My big V. retires from the Navy tomorrow. 20 years, 5 months and 16 days and now he's done. Totally done serving - but he's going back to work for the government as a contractor working in the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) Program. He's a happy camper. Today we spent the day in and out of the car getting new ID cards, new stickers for the car, enrolling in new medical programs, stopping by my Local Scrapbook store (oh, ooooops LOL) and just the final business of getting out of the Navy.

I haven't had a chance to work in my studio since Thursday and I'm itching....itching to finish the project that is patiently waiting. I finally found the fabric that does her some justice now I just need the time. Hopefully a snippet of time tomorrow.....actually I think it'll definetly happen...it's gotta happen....please let it happen....LOL. nighty night!!

Friday.....wow it's HOT!!

It's really hot here - and humid... I'm not complaining AT all, just a little bit uncomfortable and cranky. Moved more stuff from my Mom's today, in the heat of the day, and I'm drained and probably dehydrated too. Which probably is making me feel so miserably cranky and ugly. Our anniversary is next week - 8 years on Tuesday.... pales in comparison to my parents who have been married 46 years on Sunday. In 32 more years we'll be as cranky and crotchety as they are.... ha ha ha. Speaking of cranky, my Mom - she's never cranky. She's wonderful that way, nothing frazzles her, nothing rattles her brain, she never gets pissed off or on for that matter. Hardly ever gets mad, never gets depressed - never ever MOODY. {Moody is my middle name - come on I'm a crab!!) She's on a straight and even keel every day, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. It amazes me. On the other hand, I know who I take after....and it's not her! Anyway, my Dad sent her a beautiful bouquet of flowers today...orange roses and calla lillies with purple accent flowers. breathtaking - and good on ya DAD! So, in honor of my Mom NEVER being cranky - here's one of her NOT so favorite pictures.....wearing my CKU hat that Paula Kraemer from CKU gave to my husband along with a LOAD of other stuff when I was helping out at CKU Boston in 2004. Nighty night everyone....I'll be teaching at Absolutely Everything tomorrow....

Busy Busy Busy!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already!! This week is about over and what have I been doing?? Well, it's quite hot here today - and my little V was pretty bored - so I bribed him with the Spray Park. First we'll do the scrapbook store AND then we'll go spray and THEN we'll get a cold treat. It was a nice afternoon, hot but nice. I needed to see how my yard sale stuff did there - 150 bucks.....credit in the store. LOVE that! Can't wait for the next one. Well, I decided to start writing another book proposal so I've been busy getting a couple of projects done to accompany the bit of writing that I'll need to do to accompany my package to my publisher/editor. We're over the stress of the house stuff, Big V most likely has a job teaching survival stuff and well, I gotta do something......(BTW...got some good news that Art from the Heart was the top pick for two MAJOR bookstores, yahoo that was fabulous news to hear!) anyway, these two images are SNEAKIES of my proposal images.

Little V and I went junking on Saturday afternoon - that was fun. It amazes me how much fun that kid has at a flea market or antique store. He loves old stuff just like his parents do. I found some cool pictures and a neato tray, a nice old Geography book and I got something else but I can't remember what it was..... The lady I got the tray from - goofed though...she forgot to take her yard sale tags off - she paid 2.00 for it and was asking $20.00....I ended up paying 6.00 - that made me happy. I also discovered today that you can cut tintypes nicely with a pair of regular scissors. That makes me happy. Anywho, I see my style changing again. It seems like every time I go through a major life change and step away from art when I come back to it my way of doing things have changed. Well, nighty night.

Absolutely Everything Class!

Just a reminder that my Beginner Sewing on Paper class in Topsfield, Mass. is this Saturday from 10 to 5. Call the store to sign up and ask questions {978-887-6397}. See my post on May 9th for more images and details about the class.

EpiPEN oh my!!

We took the little V to an immunologist/allergist yesterday to figure out some of his allergy issues....he was so brave....the nurse Rebecca poked his back over 30 times with little plastic things that had stuff he could possibly be allergic to. Oh MY Word! 30 TIMES! Then, we had to wait about 15 minutes for the allergy things to do their business....and can I tell ya - it was a LONG 15 minutes. We had thumb wars, played hand games, blew cool air on his ITCHY back while we waited....and waited....and waited!

so this first picture is about 30 seconds into it.

And this moment was about 7 minutes later. Big V and Little V were playing rock paper scissors.

And this is just before she wiped all the stuff off! He's allergic to dust mites, cats, dogs, 3 kinds of grass, ragweed, pigweed, plantain, cottonwood trees, walnut-oak-elm-elder-birch-maple-beech and willow trees......and he's not allergic to milk or mold.

THEN she had to put all kindsa stuff with a needle UNDER his skin because they wanted to get a more definitive answer on some of his allergies. So she came back after 10 minutes, looked at me and said - do you carry an epipen around with you? {insert TOTAL freak out inside my head} WHAT? huh? WHY?? No. WHY? Because he's SO allergic to SOY that you should think about that.

What. Then we got lessons on using an EpiPen. then I totally freaked out. again. and again. and again.

Crazy Rock Lady!!

So, I got that pile of rocks for my birthday back in June - but I haven't shown you I've been throwing them around and piling them up - and hitting my husband with them....ha ha. That one was for you Pete!! LOL. I think things are coming along nicely, AND very slowly. This counts as being creative, since I am creatively arranging my rocks, ha!! Anyway, this is about as far as I've gotten. Still tons of ROCKS to move!! But, I'll get there, sooner or later. Now that we are pretty much finished with unpacking and getting organized. You are probably wondering why the neighbors (aka my family) in the area think I am some crazy person with a rock fetish... ya, so what if it's true!! Anyway, I got a call from my cousin the other day asking me if I wanted some rocks from his job site. HECK ya! I really didn't think much of it and got on with my business - until my husband drove in and unloaded some big honkers....and then Big Jim drove in a while later with rocks that are so large I have no idea how I am going to move them. Jim is a VERY tall and burly and strong guy AND he moved them with no problem..... So, on to the rock fetish thing. I am a rock collector. Alright, I collect a lot of crap...ha - but that's beside the point. I am a sucker for cool rocks. Flat ones. perfectly round ones....pretty colored ones....and sparkly ones. (But since I saw Blood Diamond I can't bear to wear my diamond that Joe gave me, ooooops!) I always have had a love of rocks. Love 'em. Dig 'em. Will make eggplant rolitini for them, ha. Just love this shadow picture of my Little V and my little neighborhood scrapbook girl. She's really my niece, but I'm getting her addicted to scrapbooking....but that's another story. I printed this picture out - and it looks WAY cool upside down. Time to stand on your head! On that note, Nighty night !!

July ScrapMuse Kit!

Today is our upload day from the July Kit over at Scrapmuse. This is my take on Lana Rappette's sketch. Let me say she is an awesome designer, a great writer and an awesome person to work with over there. THANKS Lana. You rock sistah!

The papers are from Scenic Route, the bird that I turned into a mask is from Heidi Swapp, the green spray is some glittery spray that my pal Vicki turned me on to and the rest (handwriting) is me.

Yesterday was a washout of a day - thunderstorms all afternoon with torrential downpours....left overs for dinner...and work.

YUP, I've finally got some work to do. Phew.

TTFN everyone!

My OLD man is 42 Today!!

Since we are the same age for only 19 days - I can officially call him my old man....and guess what he's doing right now - taking a nap!! He got up at 9:30 and he's taking a freakin' nap at 11:00....hello OLD Man - shall I administer your meds now or when you wake up?? Ha. I've got random things to post about today - nothing much creative and I apologize for that. I'll post my ScrapMuse project when it's time, maybe Monday. I've been having a heck of a time with my email. I've got incoming working fab but my outgoing is kicking my butt. Patience if you are waiting on an email from me....I'll get it sorted out soon, promise. There's a ton of email in my outbox - just waiting for it to be right. On to other things, our landline will be hooked up on Monday. Yahoo. Maybe I'll call ya..... ha. This is one of my favorite antique oil's...it's been living in a really NASTY frame since I got it, but as I was unpacking came across this one. Though it's not great, at least it's not nasty.

This is a picture of my very own Tim the Tool Man's bootox as he was hanging something for me. Gotta love it. HA.

And this is a picture of my Little V acting silly with some wildflowers....

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

What's WRONG with this picture?

My big Valentine came downstairs yesterday like nothing was silly about him, and I burst into uncontrollable laughter! OH my gosh, he can be so funny sometimes. He has to go and get a new Military ID and can't do it with his beard.....so silly guy that he is did THIS!! He's not really mad in this picture, just can't stand having his picture taken....can you believe he married a person that has a camera with her at almost all times??

Worked...

in my studio last night, I'm a little freaked out by all the ROOM I have and it kinda made me nervous. My other beef is that I don't have a TV in here - and that kinda sucks. BUT, if I stand just right I can see the reflection of the TV in the front door....ha.

Anyway, a few more pictures to share today. It's early, so I might get to another post today - gotta catch up for all the days I've been away ;-)

So, I stopped by my Mom's office to pick up a couple of watercolor paintings I had on display for ages....decided since they weren't selling to put them up in my house. The red one is a grouping of geraniums and the other is a flower bulb that was tacked on the side of my house drying out so I could put it in storage.

This is the masterbedroom. Lovely color, very spacious and a very happy place to be. LOVE the color, oh - I already said that! ha.

The last picture is a grouping of some of my favorite art that I have collected over the years. Nothing that I have done, but several are antique oils that I picked up when we lived in Washington. Love them. The one on the top left my DH got for me because I LOVED it, the painting of the village (right side middle picture) came from a little antique shop - and it was only 5 bucks. The framing cost 100....but is totally worth it because could get lost in it - just imagining what it's like in that little village.

Anyway, ta ta for now. Gotta get my little Valentine ready to face the day. Vic, when are you coming on over - I've got room for you to work at my desk ANY day!! :-)

Whew, I'm back!

Sorry it's been so long, but those boxes just never ended.....I almost forgot what all that we had - and we HAVE a lot of JUNK! I have been clearing out for a yard sale, took some stuff down to my Local Scrapbook Store for a yardsale she's having there - and hopefully I'll have some breathing room around here soon! So, for those that have been patiently waiting, here are some pictures of the downstairs.....I'll share the upstairs tomorrow ;-)

This is the view of my studio in the door way that leads to the kitchen. I love my room. It's awesome - I have been waiting all my life for a room like this!

This is my beloved worktable that I have - just today - been reunited with after 8 long years. It went into storage right about now 8 years ago - and along came a boy...but that's another story.

This is the view of the kitchen from the doorway to my studio. The laundry room is to the right. This is the view from the kitchen into the livingroom.

This is the view from the same spot I took the livingroom picture from only this is the dining room. Well, that's all for now folks, I've got LOTS of other things to catch up on too! I promise to share more pictures tomorrow...nighty night.

Check back in a few days!!

Sorry no posts of any interest for the last short while, our furniture and stuff will be delivered tomorrow and I've been getting ready for the scurry of unpacking, organizing and of course - the hanging of the blinds and other window treatments .... so, I promise, in a f ew days to share some pictures of our new pad....