One of two paintings.

I was recently hired by an old client to paint the names of her children to hang in their rooms. I have been wanting to post pictures of the final pieces, just haven't had time. Of course, now I can only find the finished painting for the boys room. If I find the other, I'll put it up as well.

Sunday.

Ruth and I took 3 cats to the Spay/Neuter Clinic. We then went to a wonderful little restaurant called Sweet Tomato and had an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. It was wonderful! I enjoy Ruth and hearing about her life, and she enjoys getting out and about a little. This works out well for both of us.
Next, we went to the Goodwill and spent time wandering the aisles. Ruth resisted the pull of all the little treasures. I, however, did not. I purchased a new pair of tennis shoes, slippers, and a fun little plate. I also splurged and bought a $.99 elephant figurine for a friend of mine who likes elephants. It was a good shopping trip.
Richard joined us for breakfast and the shopping. Then we took him home and introduced Ruth to Loki, his new puppy. She was immediately smitten, and Loki proceeded to show his adoration of her smitten-ness by trying to lick her face off. She had a HUGE smile on her face and was all in love with him. Then the phone rang, letting me know it was time to fetch the cats from the clinic and whisk them home to a quiet environment where they could sleep it all off.

All in all a good Sunday.

Sidetracked.

Pug knocked a plant over and made a mess. Strangely, this started a chain reaction of half finished projects. You can literally look at my home and follow the path I made. I started cleaning up the plant mess, and knocked over a stack of CDs I have been meaning to check to see what is on them. So I started this, and had to clean up my computer drive to get my computer to run faster. As this was going on, I plugged in my glue gun to do a little quick decorating of a vase, and after gathering the materials, noted that I was hungry. I made a salad and had consumed part of it when the phone rang. As I was chatting, I started pulling foam core out to cut to size for another project, abandoning the glue gun and salad.

You get the picture.

I am now backtracking, and have finished all the little things I started. I will now get out of my pajamas and head down to the post office and then down the path for a walk while the sun is still out. That is, unless I get sidetracked

Size of pictures

Hey, If you think my pictures should be bigger, let me know. I make them small to speed up load time, but some of the details might be hard to see.

The old mill

Emily and I explored the old mill while she was here. The inside felt very much like a church with the cement blocks on the ground all evenly spaced in two rows, like pews, and the height of the walls. I loved the trees and the graffiti was as wonderful as traditional stained glass windows!

Art Journaling

Before Emily moved, she showed me how to make a beautiful art journal with a hand stitched binding. I have been wanting to use it, but haven't had time. When she came to visit, she brought hers, so we sat down, opened a few malted beverages, and started gluing, painting, drawing and writing. I had a great time, and now that I have started, I don't want to stop! I have a long way to go in developing a technique and style, but I love the fun little pages I have made so far.

Behold! My first Art Journal pages!

This one really made me giggle. I am not sure why I picked paper full of little hearts. I am not really a heart person. As I looked at it, I thought "Geez! That's a lot of hearts! Hey! I wonder what would happen if you put all the hearts in the world end to end?You would have a lot of dead people with no hearts."

Then I laughed, because, really, what else can you do when you have a weird thought like that? Then I made the page.What it says is "If you lined all the hearts in the world end to end, you would have a lot of dead people with no hearts." Under it, amongst the black hearts, I wrote, "Her heart unraveled at the site of him." The flowery decoration is a big sticker I had. The rest is paper cut outs, pen, and a little white paint.

I have a bunch of old lottery tickets I have saved, thinking I could use them for something. Now I have! This page says "Fold your luck carefully or it won't fly where you aim."

I was inspired by the little paper airplanes on the page, and my belief that luck is not all random. You can direct it a bit with what you do .And then there is the Swiss cow I have been saving since my first trip back to Switzerland in 1998. I decided she needed a trip to the beach, so I did a vacation memory page for dear Bessy. Plain and simple silliness here!

The first of a few little updates.

So, On my way to work this week, My car's transmission ate itself up. I barely made it to work, and spent the day getting my ducks in order to have my little kiwi taken to the car doctor. I had help from a friend that was home, which made it all easier. They looked up information for me so all I had to do was place a couple calls. I am still amazed at how long it all took.
So, I had the car towed to the Ford dealership, in case it was still under warranty. However, I did not get my hopes up. Lets face it, my luck with cars has been mediocre at best. I was able to get it towed to a dealership that had rentals, and not only did AAA cover the little extra distance on the tow (because I was a first time user), but I am comfortably driving a 2009 Ford Focus, so it is familiar in layout and handling.

The entire break down could have been so much worse. I made it to work. I could have been stuck between Vernonia and hwy 26, with miles to hike in the dark to get help. It could have been raining. I could have had to pay for the tow. So, when I went to the dealership, they all commented on how well I was taking this. My reply? "Could have been so much worse, and I can't do anything about it anyways, so I'm not going to worry about it."

This, dear readers, is my wonderful anti-anxiety medication talking. If I was not on it, I would have had a meltdown that would have lasted weeks. Honest.

Well, I received a call the next morning from Ford that I was NOT expecting. I had an extended warranty on my transmission, and so 5 days of my rental car will be free, and they will replace the entire transmission. Yeah! As much as I SAID I wasn't going to worry, I still was worried a bit. I feel so much better now, and am chatting with the mechanic about getting any other maintenance done that might need it while the car is pulled apart. Might as well save myself a trip down the road and labor costs.

SO, that is my first update. The next will be more picture filled and shorter. Off to edit some photos I took while during my Emily visit.

Quickie before work.

Had a wonderful weekend with Emily. She took the train down from Tacoma Saturday morning, and stayed the night at my place. We visited a friend at Michaels, and then went for a walk around Mill Pond in Vernonia. I have been itching to do this for some time. The weather was gorgeous and warm, and we spent part of the evening outside reading craft magazines and being accosted by the local troop of stray cats. When the sun set and it became to cool out, we moved the party indoors for home made pizza and tipsy crafting. Then we watched a movie and went to bed.

Sunday we had a quiet morning, and then drove north to Centrailia so I could drop off 2 paintings I did for a client, and to browse the antique stores. Emily's boyfriend drove down and met us, and then we headed back to our homes to rest from a busy weekend.

Now I must pour a cup of coffee and head into work.

A post with some meat on it.

So, I bet you all wonder what I have been up to here in the lovely town of Vernonia. My life has been busy and full. I like both. . I need a little more 'fun' busy, though. I have spent the last several months in a relationship which ended yesterday from a misunderstanding. It is one that could be solved with a little talk, and trust on his side, but that won't happen.

So, I have decided that I need to give myself a year to be alone and regroup. Nicely enough, this decision has fallen on Spring Equinox, a time of rebirth, so it seems pretty fitting. There will be tons of candles tonight and a little ceremony (which I have yet to figure out) and I will step into this new set of seasons with just me.

As for the work place, it has not been great, but it could be worse. My right hand man is very slow in picking up some of the basics, but he is patient with my irritation, and I try very hard to remind myself I have been with the company far longer than he. He has turned out to be a good friend, and I am looking forward to spending time with him and his wife in the future.

I have been invited to my assistant manager house to play Wii and hang, so I plan on taking her up on that soon. She transferred up from Arizona, and I absolutely adore her candid personality. She is someone I need to watch and learn from.

I am itching for a vacation. I have 2 dates I will be putting time into. One in September when my Uncle Peter and Ursi come to visit. The other will be in New York, in July I believe, with my dear friend Diana. I went last year, and plan to stay much longer this year. This leaves me a little less than a week to fiddle with. I am hoping to stick individual days onto weekends and do some trips home. Need to look into the August 1St party at the cabin, and maybe the 42nd of July party. Lots to do, lots of friends to visit.

Ruth, my fabulous cat friend, is ready to start spaying/neutering the strays she is feeling. I will pick up traps this next week and set up an appointment. Time to get these poor little guys taken care of so they don't have any more babies.

I had a tune up done on my car. After 3 years and 60,000 miles, it was starting to need it. It hurt in the pocket book, but my federal tax return will cover most of it. Now if I would just get the tax return...

Went scrap booking at the fire station last Saturday. I really enjoy this time. It makes me happy to talk crafts with people who are not customers, and with people who I am becoming friends with. It is very different than work. Very different indeed.

I am healthy and happy, and I need to wrap up this fine post and get my house in order. A friend of mine is taking the train down, and will be here at 11am. I need to get moving so I can head out at 10am and pick her up. I love when friends come to visit!

Is it really you Spring?

Seems like spring has finally sprung. I have been snapping pictures with my fabulous little camera, and wnated to share the spring love with you on this fabulous Spring Equinox day! I made the images small so they would load a little fastr. Enjoy everyone!

Oh, the cuteness!

First big felting project!

Beth creates all these lovely works of art with a needle and thread. I have always admired them. It is both a skill and a talent that she has enjoyed and worked hard at for years. I was inspired to create her a birthday gift that would compliment her works of art, so I came up with the idea of making a felted sampler. I am actually pretty proud of the way it turned out, especially since it is my first big felt project.

I used little cookie cutters like stencils. This made felting the letters much easier, and gave them a cleaner edge. I need to work on controlling the amount of wool I use in them so they are more uniform and legible. The kitty turned out quite nicely. I love the sewn on bead eyes! I am already anxious to try my hand at another felted sampler, but I need to first accomplish a few other tasks before doing so.

Spring accessories.

Took these two pictures in a park somewhere in Beaverton. I am in love with spring this year, and all her colors and sunshine and warm weather.

New addition to my household

I have a comfy chair now! It is in great shape and I bought it at a local rumage sale for $25. Some nice lady there offered to let me load it into her truck so she could deliver it to my home. I love small towns! The people are so friendly. Now I can snuggle with the kitty, watch Netflix or simply sit and stare out the window (like I have been doing for a bit this morning). It's nice!

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