Saturday, February 27, 2010

Doing the HAPPY Dance!

My BLUE has lost THIRTEEN lbs! He now only weighs 161 lbs.!!!!
I am measuring out his food very carefully and he still gets treats but we are more aware of how many.
And he did it without eating any stinkin' CARROTS!
(I've lost 7 myself, probably because misery loves company...... and I didn't eat any damn carrots either!)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

THURSDAY is Estate Sale Day!

I decided that THIS year I am taking Thursdays as my day off at my DAY job. I've worked there 8 years and always worked around everyone elses schedule so I finally decided I was going to think of myself for a change and schedule ME off on Thursdays! Thursdays are the first day of Estate Sales. They start at 9:00 am but you have to go earlier and get a number and then line up at the door. Promptly at 9 they open the door and everyone hurries in and scatters all over the house to find "treasures". A lot of the time my sister and her husband will meet up with me and it works out well because we are never attracted to the same stuff. A friend of mine used to go with me but she said that it bothered her to go through someone elses things. I understood but I pointed out that I LOVE my finds and they make me so HAPPY and if I thought that other people would love and cherish my "stuff" when I'm gone, that I would be happy too. She prefers to stick to garage sales and Goodwill (and I secretly think that she just doesn't want to get up early! LOL!)
So, there was an Estate Sale today across the river and my sister said she would probably pass on it but I had to go because... I took Thursdays off to go!
I'm SO Happy I went! Here's some pics of what I got-
First off is the painting, it's in the photo at the beginning of the post. Well, the actual painting is not my style but I LOVE the frame! AND I've been looking for just the right one for my print of my Skelly that I got from Pam aka http://yoborobo.blogspot.com/   it's  perfect and it only cost $5.00! The quilted little blue blanket below it cost $4.00 and I'm going to use that in my car for Blue to lay down on. Then I found these for my little dogs, I thought they would make good dog food dishes and they cost 25 cents a piece!
and this was $1.00

and this for a water bowl - $3.50

and this was$2.00, I think it will go into the kitchen and hold "something" that I will find...

and this was $2.00 and I'll use it as a reed diffuser -

and this pot was $1.00 and it will replace the one I accidently broke, it will go outside on the front steps (when if finally warms up!) -

and the grand total came to $18.00! Waahoo!!!!!

I was on a roll so I drove over to Lowes and found 2 gallons of mis-tinted but quality paint in just the right "mocha" color I've been thinking about. They were $5.00 a piece and then I also got 2 quarts of mis-tints, one a creamy color and the other a grey for $2.50! My color scheme in my house is white, and more white and more white and then brown, black, gold, silver. All the walls on the main floor are white and I've been thinking of painting one of the rooms a Mocha, most likely the kitchen, but maybe not. Maybe the bathroom. The bathroom is already a brownish but it has this god awful border in there ( I have no idea why I put THAT up) anyway it needs repainting. Goodness, it sounds like I  have a BIG house, but I don't. It's a VERY tall but VERY skinny house, really! Many people have commented on the fact. When I say skinny, I'm talking 15 feet across! It's kinda odd but I love it, it's different, it's like someone said, hey I bet we could squeeze a house in there!
I digress.
So then off I went to Target! and I found this perfect doggie gate for the bottom of the stairs. I needed something because the little ones kept running up there and getting into no good. A regular baby gate just wouldn't fit properly between the wall and banister and it looked so ugly! So I had this thought and what do you know! They were on clearance! for $9.98.  so here's the doggie gate -

OK, so you might be saying "that's a fire screen"! but the little ones don't know that. They just walk up to it and look at it and walk away! And it's pretty.
Well, that's enough gloating for now, I'm off to figure out what room to paint.
Oh, and guess who I ran into at the Estate Sale? My sister! Scammer.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Why Do I Buy Carrots! ?

Ok, Honestly? I do know why I buy carrots. I buy them because I feel guilty.  I think to myself, I don't need chips, chocolate, PopTarts, whatever! If I'm hungry, I can just have a Carrot!
So I buy carrots and they lay in the refrigerator until they stop being orange. So I've decided this happens because I hate washing and peeling and the whole preparation thing. So, I buy Baby Carrots! They are kinda cute. Easier to wash up and bite size!....... Same thing happens!
So the other day I see these little packages of Carrot Chips! They even wavy like Ruffles Potato Chips! and on Sale! What could possibly be my excuse now!?
I open the refrigerator door and stare at them. I close the door, open it again and decide that I can do this!
I take out the little bag and Oh No! I must have the temperature turned up too high because they are frozen!
FROZEN! Like Ice cream! I get out a bowl, scoop up some Vanilla & Cookie Dough Ice Cream and sit down to check out what my Blogger friends are up to, Hey! I tried!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Some of My Paintings ....


Last Spring at the veterinarian clinic that I work at, my friend Amber (who is the Head Tech) and I decided that the exam rooms and the public bathroom needed to be repainted. We picked out colors and got the Doc to go pick up the paint and we set out to redo all the rooms. As it usually happens when the two of us start a project, it kinda snowballed into a whole redecorating thing. We ended up also redoing his office and collecting a lot of Feng Shui friendly items for his space. I had found an old desk at an estate sale and got him to go get it and we repainted it a matte black. We found 2 metal chest of drawers and repainted those. We swiped photos of his kids out of his drawer and had them blown up to fit into some silver metal frames. Then we got a jade plant, a small fountain, hung a crystal in the window and basically did a complete makeover. I did a collage painting that incorporated a photo of his elderly german shepherd (who has since passed on) and wrote the words "Old Friends are the Best Friends" over it. We needed more paintings for the exam rooms and restroom so I brought in some of my paintings (that hadn't sold on Ebay!) and hung them in the different rooms. Here are a few, but not all of them. Of course I am critical of most of them but I thought I'd show you a sampling of my work. The bird painting at the start of this post is in the restroom. This one is also
in there.


This is the one in the Doctors office -

 and then the next one is in the cat exam room

and this one too-
this one is in the Euthanasia Room, It's a collage with a photo of "Mika" an old Saint Bernard that I took care of for YEARS and who passed on last year -


So, that's a sampling, the girls at work said I should put some prices on some of them and try to sell them...so maybe I will.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Stepping Back and What's Really Important! And a Secret!

First, the Secret...it's not really a secret because everyone that knows me outside of the my "blog world" already knows this but it's something that I keep close to my heart because it means so Much to me. It's power is So great that it's terrifying. I haven't talked about her before but since this post is about what's really important to me... met Ruby. Now I love my dog Blue, with all my heart, but Ruby was here first and while I have this "herd" of pets that are my family, she is truly my #1. She stays at home everyday in the comfort of her fellow little housemates. I really don't think she minds when I leave everyday with Blue. She settles down on her warm bed and I have no doubt that she spends her day napping or playing with the other little ones in the laundry room while we go to "work" to earn the money to keep her comfy. She is a Huge source of Happiness and she sleeps on the pillow next to me every night and she is the first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning. I have to lift her down to the floor every morning and she tiptoes daintily down the stairs to be let out. She has the ability to bring me make me smile like nothing else. And this week I haven't felt like smiling.
This has been a VERY long week. It seemed like it would never end. I have been in one of the worst funks.
As many of you know, my Day Job consists of running the Boarding Area of a veterinarian clinic that I work at. On Monday I noticed that a little elderly boarder seemed to be breathing very heavy and to make a very long story short, he was going into heart failure and after rushing him up front to the veterinarian, he was resuscitated only to end up being put back down after we called the owner to see what medical measures that they wanted us to take....to say it broke my heart would be putting it lightly. Yes, I know that he had lived a long happy life (and some people might have to point out the fact that he was a DOG, but please don't even go there with me.)
So mid-week, on my day off I sought refuge on the computer, visiting blogs and websites in an effort to brighten my week. Well, my computer went down and I spent the day first on the phone with my service provider and then transferred to Microsoft where we spent the afternoon talking me through the computer lingo. It got very frustrating at times because there was a bit of a language problem between the tech support and myself. I swear that I am getting hard of hearing and the fact that I know ZERO about computers wasn't helping. So now I am up and running but in the process I've lost spell check on everything! So be prepared for some very ODD words!
Anyway, I really have been feeling out of sorts and trying to figure out my life. One of my friends thinks it's the weather. We had some sunshine for a few days and temps soared to the high 30's but now there's another Snow Alert for tonight with only 5-6 inches to come. It's supposed to be a "heavy" snow so that might eliminate some of the blowing.
I digress, so I'm feeling blue, sad, whatever and then I see that some of my blogger friends are taking time off, Georgina to slay some dragons and Magaly is in the hospital in a frantic effort to blessed with a miracle to allow her to have a child. Then I read about Renee, someone I was not fortunate to have found before this time, only to discover this amazing woman is approaching her final days here on Earth and the only slightly positive thing about it is that she could be released from her horrible pain. I've had many people in my life and most of my family go through cancer and it's always been cruel and unfair. Reading these posts made me feel ashamed to feel anything but postive about my own life. How dare I waste the energy on such negative feelings. I want to spend my days enjoying every moment.
I've been told that I create my own stress, but that was by someone that doesn't share the same interests as me. They don't create (it's too messy) they don't garden (it's too expensive) they don't have all the animals I do (it's too hairy) so I find it hard to listen to that advice. I do think that I am always thinking about how I can make some money, add to my income or find a new career. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done and I find it so hard someitmes. I am so far into the hole, if I add all the ART supplies up. I feel like I should just forget it all and just do it as a hobby and stop trying to figure out a way to make a living at my art. That way I won't be tallying up everything. Sometimes I regret staying single, it would be nice to have some one cheering me on AND the financial support. But since I never found THE person and I know too many women that are unhappily married, well, I would rather be by myself. Better to struggle alone than to struggle with someone that keeps pulling you down under the water with them.
So, I surf around the blogs some more and I read about an artist who is whining because she was denied into a class. A class taught by the very artist that she has copied so completely that it's hard to tell the faces from her work to the other artist. I'm not talking about similar styles, I mean the faces are exact. But of course, if other people haven't been following the other artist's work, they won't have any idea of the art theft. So I start searching and I find someone who has copied down the faces of yet ANOTHER artist, this one being the creator of beautiful cloth dolls. I realize there are fines lines when it comes to admiring someone elses work and trying their techniques but when you paint the eyes, nose, mouths identical to the original artists... well, come on!
I find this all very discouraging. You struggle to become a success and original and if you do then people with no artistic morals steal from you. Whoa! , I'm back to being a downer, maybe I should just delete this whole post. I think maybe I'll just focus on creating and not so much making a living from it. I think I will spend time working on and decorating in my home and when Spring comes I will enjoy working in the garden and not feel like it's stealing time away from me trying to build an art/craft career. I need to step out of myself and enjoy this precious life and take joy in every moment because it passes much too quickly. The amount of money I make has no real effect on my happiness. If I can pay my bills and feed my animals, if I can take a deep healthy breath, then life is good and I control my own happiness.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

NEW CATS !!!

Well, I've finished up 4 little kitties! Later this afternoon I'm going to list them on Ebay. Hopefully they will find some good homes!

These little cats have been busy catching mice! Only problem now is what to do with these mice!? Are they little "friends", "toys" or "dinner"!
First is Ariel - She gets a little sad thinking about making this one dinner! She just might have to keep him as a little buddy.
Then there's - Abigail. She caught TWO! But they've been giving her this song and dance about being parents...so maybe she will just let them go!
and  Agnes - she's thinking that this one is so plump and juicy and well, a girl's gotta eat!
And finally there's Albert - He's got a new toy to bat around for a while.....

http://myworld.ebay.com/oldblackcatboo


listing #'s are:

Arial - 320488481704
Abigail- 320488484097
Agnes -320488488213
Albert - 320488494965

Friday, February 12, 2010

SPIDERS and WIP'S!!!

NOOOOOOO - Not really spiders, just kidding. This is my new "find" at the Restore! They were in a box marked Concrete Accessories, and I guess they are called "high chairs" according to the box.

I have no idea how they are used in conjunction with concrete but I know EXACTLY what I am going to use them for! I still haven't started the project that I had in mind for my prior find which looked very similar to these things but larger and attached to a metal base. THAT project I know will be very time consuming so I'm a little bit hesitant about starting it until I finish a few other WIP's!
One of my WIP is more black cats. (Big surprise! LOL!) A couple of posts back I was frustrated as I tried to list my Valentine kitties on Etsy. The whole pixel thing had thrown me for a loop, but I think I've discovered a YouTube video that can kinda walk me through it. If not, I found that I have several blogger friends who are kind enough to offer email assistance! I tell ya, my blogger buddies are the BEST!
So I ended up listing my cats on Ebay and to my surprise, 5 of them sold! Wahoo! I was SO HAPPY! So of course I now must create more to see if it was just a Valentine fluke or if they will sell without a special occasion tied to them.

So my weekend plans? (After working at my day job Saturday morning) I plan to come home and finish the cats and then list them on Ebay again. I also want to figure out the Etsy thing so that I can list the Valentine Cats that didn't sell on Ebay in my store on Etsy.
Oh yeah, I also need to do my taxes for last year and do some house cleaning...wish me luck and stay tuned for my "high chair" creations!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Weight Problems!!!


I know that it seems like everyone is battling with weight problems. I myself have yoyo'd up and down most of my life. I remember being a chubby little kid and then getting thin in high school and then starting to gain again in college and then dropping out and losing and then going up and down and up and down. Lately it's just been going up and up! A few posts back I wrote about Blue's weight issue and then the other day I took a picture of "Dewey" and realized I had made him FAT too!
Dewey was a little teenager cat that one of the girls I work with brought in to the vet clinic. He was found at her mothers home in the country. Crying at her door. He was skinny and had big patches of hair missing. We kept him back in my boarding area and to our dismay he continued to pull out hunks of his own hair! Everyone at the clinic came back throughout the day, everyday to visit him. Slowly with a lot of love from everyone his hair started to come back. Then our Veterinarian said it was time to find him a home and it needed to be ASAP! Everyone wanted him but it seemed that they all either had a husband or a mother that refused to let them adopt Dewey. So I took him home until a "proper" home could be found. Well... all my little dogs adored him immediately and he is now part of MY family! So, the little skinny bald kitty is now a FAT cat.
Then there's Horton.

When I lost my cat "Ghost",  I answered a found ad and it wasn't Ghost but some other white male affectionate cat. He was terrorized by my dogs the moment I brought him home so he lives at the clinic, where's he's safe from dogs chasing him everywhere. He is living at the clinic until I can find him a good safe home with no dogs. He started out a big bone cat but...now he needs to go on to "The Biggest Loser".
I just recently found out that Mandy, one of the vet techs at the clinic, has her own blog  http://fatcatnomore.blogspot.com/   it's devoted to getting weight off of her cat Midnight. Mandy is one of those girls who is young,(so young she could be my daughter!) pretty, skinny and scary smart! Honestly I could hate her out of jealousy except she's also very sweet and caring. She's always concerned about everyone, the animals and people and to top it off, she's always so cheerful. Ugh!!!!!!!!
LOL! So check out her blog! I know I need to follow it!