Stupid Blogger

I don’t know if it was my computer or blogger but it hasn’t wanted to let me post in the last several days. I have managed to persevere somedays but others I just decided it wasn’t worth it. Today after several tries I got in but I don’t have much to say. I spent the day outside yesterday for the most part. I played with our dogs, I’m almost certain Tink is with puppy but I love puppies so I don’t mind. My darling dearest had a concert last night at the city park but it was so stinkin cold that things did not really go well. I felt bad for my brother in law because he stayed for the whole thing and it ended up being a 5 and a half hour long affair. Blech. We came home after they played and watched Dan in Real Life. I had seen it in theaters but enjoyed watching it again. The combination of Juliette Binoche who is a beautiful person and Steve Carell, a wonderful comedian and actor, was nice for a quiet evening in. On a disappointing note, my digital camera seems to have gone MIA so I’m going to have to call the hotel where we stayed in Florida to see if they found it.

Sproing!!! Sproing Sproing

No I’m not completely mental, just a little bit. I’m just happy because spring seems to finally be showing its little head around my house. I went outside today to check on my babies and as they were running and jumping after I let them out of the fence I decided to investigate my bulb plantings. And I am ecstatic to say that many of them are grinning up at me from above the ground. There were hyacinths, lilies, irises, and grape hyacinths along with the ever present wild garlic all topside now. No actual flowers but lots of green that wasn’t there two weeks ago and the hyacinth is even going so far as to have buds showing. I’m absolutely in heaven because that is definitely one of my favorite smells in the whole world. Jasmine, roses, wisteria, hyacinths, irises, freesia and gardenias all make me smile for hours. On a stranger note, I’m beginning to be a bit suspicious of Tink’s marked weight gain over the last few weeks. I can’t say anything for sure but she seems to be getting wider and I’m a bit nervous that the increase may mean puppies. I’d be happy but Jarell maybe probably would not. Little Pepper is getting bigger but I realized the other day that she’s the same age now as Tink was when we got her and only about half the size. This may not seem that odd, but Tink only got a little bit bigger and is a very diminuitive Labrabor by most standards. I’m hoping this means that Pepper will be small because big dogs are a little harder to contain. She might be Beagle which Jarell would like. We’ll see I guess. But thats enough about flowers and puppy dogs for now. I’m off to do something productive.

Almost back home

Well no not really but we’ll be going home the day after tomorrow. We’re going to Seaworld today maybe which will be fun but if we don’t I’ll be okay with that too. I’m happy because yesterday I went to a bead store called Black Market Minerals and got a bunch of beads including some really cool magnetic beads. It’ll fun to play with them and I already have a design for a choker planned for some of the shell beads and teardrop pearls. They had sets of 10 magnetic beads for sale as clasps for 4.50 and they had whole strings for sale of the same beads for 4.50 so needless to say I bought the whole string. I’ll try to post pictures later but I’m not making promises because I’ve procrastinated before 🙂 Until later,
Me

I’m such a bum

I didn’t do a single crafty thing today and I’m a bit depressed about it, but to make myself feel a bit better, my husband bought me a couple of delightful books today at the border’s outlet next to our hotel. One is on stamping which is something I’ve always wanted to do and the other is about on candle making another particular interest of mine.For now they are to do projects because it costs quite a bit more than I have to play with to buy the supplies but they’re eventually books. I often dream of being set loose in a craft store without a price limit but the odds of that ever happening are slim to none and so I settle for trying to make my addiction pay for itself. I really wish I could get feedback on my projects from strangers because I honestly don’t trust my family to tell me straight. My husband comes closest but because he’s a guy its still hard to tell. Ah well c’est la vie n’est ce pas. Maintenent je vais a dormir mes chers invisibles. Now I’m going to sleep my dear invisibles.
Au demain

Lazy days

I spent the day yesterday doing mostly nothing which was absolutely delightful. We did go baby shoppin for a while with my inlaws but that was alright. I enjoyed petting the furry things while the expectiong parents got the remaining necessities. I did stitch a flower patch to add to my jeans pocket. It gives them a bit of color which is nice. I really don’t have much else to say tho. We’re going to see Cirque Du Soleil this evening which I’m really looking forward to. I’m making both my parents jealous on this trip– blue man group for my dad and cirque du soleil for my mom 😉 I’ll have more to tell later I’m sure.

Inspiration

I asked the other day what inspired you me to do the things that you now love to do and so now I’m going to give my answer to that question. I realized that there were many influences on my artistic side. Musically it was my parents and grandparents. To say they are musical is like saying that fire is hot– a major understatement. There was always singing and instruments being played. On the art side, I watched my mom draw and my dad create things with his lathe and jig saw. Hanging on my living room wall is a sandblasted plaque that they made together. My maternal grandparents dumpster dived and frequented garage sales, thrift stores and people’s large useable “trash.” I had a child size antique doll due to a broken arm that my grandpa fixed with a very large bolt. Charlotte may have had a slight resemblence to Frankenstein, but she was beautiful to me at 5 years old. My grampa also made miniature working violins working from pictures in books. My gramma sewed beautiful quilts and dolls and many other things. My paternal grandparents had their own specialties. Gramma Betty crochets and sews dolls clothes and people clothes too. She still makes her own clothing. My grampa makes crazy quilts out of double knit polyester and does woodworking that still amazes me, making puppets and cars that rolled, furniture and so much more. My stepmom finds all sorts of unusual obects that start off separate and plain and somehow turns them into wonderful works of art or toys for her family while still managing to save money. I have taken all of these skills and woven the parts that I am good at into my own particular style. I am constantly seeking out new challenges because of the wonderful people in my life that tought me so much. And this list doesn’t even begin to scrape the top of the barrel– teachers, my brother, aunts and uncles, my husband— I’ve watched them all and learned so much from them. They all have talents that I envy and I am so thankful that they have been there in my life. For those of them who read this, thank you all so very much. I would not be able to do the things that I do today without your examples.

Just let him pee on your leg. That always works

No this is not some kinky porn blog that no one should read. We had a blast today. We drove to Cocoa beach and I was like a kid in a candy store picking up awesome shells all over the place. No stingy Nor Cal beach was this– lots of whole shells and several of them were rather large. Then J14 and I built some sand tunnels and a large wall and waited for a while to see it fill up with water. While we waited for the tide to get that high, we played in the waves with the wake board and in general had a lot of fun. All of a sudden I saw a jelly fish headed toward J12 and I yelled to him to watch out for it. I walked towards him about 2 steps before feeling an excruciating pain on both my legs– kinda like getting stung but 20 bees all at once. So I hobbled out of the water after offering up some choice words and whimpering a little but laughing a little too. I had drool and snot running down my face which is as you all know wonderfully attractive. And then my husband says, “I can pee on it for you if you want.” No thank you honey. So that pretty much ended our day at the beach but fortunately we’d already been there about 3 hours or so.

Just a quicky today

I just thought I’d share a couple of sites that I absolutely adore. If you’re like me you often have multiple tabs going on the computer (the better to absorb as much information in as short a time as possible, right?) and so I like to keep one to read and one to learn. Here are two of my favorites. www.ithinkwereallbozos.com and http://craftchi.com/blog/?cat=8&paged=2 The first being the laugh and the second something to do. Have fun and explore further from both these pages.

Another long day with lots and lots of pictures and very little craftiness

Well yesterday we went to the Magic Kingdom– the sappiest err happiest place on earth. It had some cool stuff but in reality I was more impressed with Epcot. I did enjoy the haunted mansion and the river ride but everything was just too stinking crowded. We did stay to watch the 10 o’clock fireworks and they were beautiful but I really preferred the Epcot show. But thats alright because I got to watch a guy making those awesome blown glass bowls and vases and now I swear I have a new purpose in life– burning myself on glass 🙂 I was absolutely so fascinated that I forgot to take pictures. My brief moment of crafting was culminated by helping to finish applying the skull and crossbones to J11’s hat. I bought a couple of overpriced charms that I may do something with and got a great deal yesterday on a huge pack of scrapbook paper so I should have lots of fun when we get home. Oh how I can’t wait to go home. I’m tired of being dragged around amusement parks where I’m bored and not getting to do anything I want to do because its boring. On a high note we may be going somewhere very interesting today but more on that later. So til then I will leave you with a project. Think of something you enjoy doing that is something you’ve loved your whole life and tell me how you got started on it–specifically who got you started on it. You may be surprised who was inspiring. I know when I thought about it I was. Just post it on your blog and leave me a comment about it.

worn to a shred

Well we went to Epcot today and it was incredible but my oh my am I dead on my feet. We got there at noon-ish and went thru the whole park and finished in time to watch the closing fireworks. That started at 9:00. 9 hours walking or sometimes riding. One ride called “soarin” takes you on a virtual hang gliding tour of California which was incredible despite the fact that it triggered a small panic attack for me. I cried a little but a big part of it was missing California myself. Its been two years since I was out there last and I haven’t seen my mom in all that time. I never realized how much California was home to me until I went so long away from it. I may soon beg my husband to go out there and also to Michigan to see my grandparents as well. But back to Disney. The fireworks were absolutely the MOST incredible I’ve ever seen. I had goosebumps by the time it ended and the music was the perfect accompaniment. None of this is crafty for which I appologize. I made a patch for my sister-in-laws hat in the shape of a skull and cross bones to cover a goofy marlin that was embroidered on the side. So that was my craftiness. I will try to get some pics posted soon but can’t make any promises. Ciao bellas