Party like it's 1999, er....2010!

Happy New Years!

I wish Everyone a Safe, Warm and Happy New Years Eve!

No, this little passed out doggie isn't one of mine! (but I do have a little one that looks just like her! LOL!)

A friend sent this photo to me in an email about the evil effects of alcohol!

I plan on staying in tonight and eating bad for me goodies and drinking cheap wine!

Hopefully that won't be me passed out on the couch!

I might go over my "resolutions" list and make some revisions. But basically it's to TRY to be more healthy in regards to my eating habits (starting tomorrow), and getting more exercise ... me and Blue need to plan a walking regimen and we will start right away (as soon as the snow is off the sidewalks) and I plan on being more organized and "tidier". But my BIG one is to put my art on the top of my "to-do" list and to get my Etsy shop up and running. So there!

I have some more stuff on the list, like paying down bills and there's one on there about finishing one project before starting another (but I can tell you right now that I'm crossing that one OFF! - never gonna happen! LOL!) and a few other things that I don't remember what they were (not a good sign!) Anyway, Good Luck with YOUR resolutions (if you do that sort of thing)

I might watch Ryan Seacrest and the Ball Drop, but I kinda doubt it, I want to get a early fresh start in the morning on the New Year.

I'll be careful not to have TOO much wine so that I don't have a headache in the AM (and also I don't want to drink and blog! LOL!) I remember in younger years when I had more of a "social" life and wasn't such a hermit, I was careful not to drink and dial! Thank goodness there were no cell phones that took pics back then...It would not have been pretty! So, take care friends and have a Wonderful New Year!

She's Here! She's Here!

Rachelle arrived today! She was delivered to my work address and I've been bugging the girls up in the office everyday about the mail! So this afternoon they called back to me over the intercom that the "mail" was here! I hurried up to the front office and everyone gathered around. (I work at a veterinarian clinic where I run the boarding kennels in the back) and they laughed at my excitement! I carefully unwrapped her and was almost squealing with happiness! Everyone oh'd and ah'd over her! A few thought she was a little bit scary but mostly everyone just said how cool she was. The Doc said he thought she looked like someone out of a Tim Burton movie. I replied "I KNOW! ISN'T SHE BEAUTIFUL! I practically "skipped" back to my boarding area! I'm SO HAPPY!
Thank you so much Colleen! You ARE the sweetest!

...I have now carried her all over my home trying to find the perfect spot for her. Right now she is sitting on the shelf in the kitchen above the sink where she can greet me in the morning when I come down for my coffee!

Julie & Julia

My niece Lily gave me the DVD of the movie "Julie & Julia" for Christmas. ( We were supposed to see it at the theater together but we both got too busy to make it happen.)
So I watched it this weekend and I LOVE it! Definitely a Thumbs-UP!
It even made me think about cooking something! (I never really cook but I am THINKING about it, LOL!). I am a big fan of Meryl Streep of course, but what really got to me was everything in the background! It was so French!
I had to play it again just to pause it to look at the colors, the walls, the floors,the decorating!
It was just so visually beautiful! I wanted to live in all the rooms! I loved the exteriors. the shop fronts....and the movie itself was very good.
Do other people do that too? Sit and drool over the decor of houses?
I bought both "Somethings Gotta Give" and "A Good Year" because well, yes I actually liked these movies but also because of the backgrounds, the decorating, the homes.
Anyway, now I want to go to France all the more!

It was a Wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent at my step-mothers. It's become a tradition. She always has me and my sister and my sister's family over for the Holiday. Her husband has his kids and grand-kids over and then of course my step-grandfather comes too. My father passed away 15 years ago and my step-grandmother right after that. This year we lost my step-aunt to ovarian cancer. All this loss has created a "different" kind of family unit. We all joke about how it's like living in a TV movie. But it works, our family maybe small but at least we have each other!

Then for Christmas, I spent the morning and afternoon with my sister at her home in front of the fireplace eating cookies and opening gifts. Then we had a nice Christmas meal before Lily, my youngest niece and I headed out to take care of the boarding animals at the clinic I work at. It had been raining in the morning but tempertures had really dropped and it was blowing and snowing! Thank Goodness for Lily's help! We were able to take care of the dogs in record time.

I had left Blue, Jimmy and Ralphie there for the day so I'm sure it was a real sight to see the 5 of us packed in my little VW Bug crunching and wobbling through the blowing snow. When I got to my house, we found the iron front screen-door frozen shut! We had to go around the house to the back and the gate was frozen too! Luckily Lily was able to get over the gate (with a boost from me) and get in the back door and go through the house and let me and the "boys" inside. We were freezing! Once we got everyone settled, Lily and I headed out again and back to her house where we watched the movie "The Holiday" and ate cherry pie!

Everyone had a great Christmas and Santa brought the girls pretty much what they asked for and a few little things they didn't. I received some wonderful gifts. Some DVD's I've been wanting and some gift certificates to my favorite stores (those are always good! LOL!) and my sister gave me a couple of framed old photos that she had gotten copied of us and our parents... nice but kinda sad. Maggie, my middle niece gave my this beautiful framed poster of illustrated black cats making different expressions in French! Ha! Ha! How could I not LOVE that! Two of my loves! Black cats and anything French! Then my last gift of the Christmas day was from Grace, my oldest niece. It was a framed pencil drawing of BLUE! She had drawn it herself! She's so talented (she's going to Art School in Chicago) well, that made me just burst into tears! I've posted a photo of it for all to see! I love how she captured the expression in his eyes!

What a Wonderful Christmas I had! I hope everyone else enjoyed a great Christmas surrounded by family too.

The Night Before The Night Before Xmas!

So, tomorrow night is Christmas Eve! So what am I doing tonight? Why making Christmas gifts of course! LOL! (I laugh so that I don't cry!) OMG! Some people are SO hard to buy for!
I finally have gotten everyone all their gifts except for the hardest, my sister! When she sees something she wants/needs, she buys it. Not that she buys much for herself, she usually just buys for her girls or the house or flowers. I have already given her gift certificates for flowers in the past. So I really didn't want to do that again. She doesn't like people to buy her clothes. She only wants what she wants for her house (I'm like that too.) So, I have gotten her a few things but I feel like it's not enough. So I decided she needed "fairy houses" for her fairy garden and that's what I've been finishing up tonight...I'm really tired and kinda woozy from the "sealer" fumes but here's a pic of them.... who knows if she will like them or not!?

Hopefully her "Garden Fairies" will!

My MOST Wonderful Christmas Gift!

I know that a lot of people love Christmas, and while it definitely has some wonderful happy moments, moments spent with family and friends, There are times when I find myself feeling a bit blue. At those times I get mad at myself because I am fortunate to have my sister and her husband and my 3 wonderful nieces. I have a warm home and a job that I like and I am surrounded by my furry "kids". I am healthy and I am able to "create" in my spare time. There are so many people in the world that are having such a difficult time. I'm so lucky that I have some WONDERFUL friends, some of who I have never actually met! These are people that I "visit" through our blogs. I love to escape into their worlds and marvel at their creations. I am so happy to be able to chat with such talented artists! I love that I am able to talk with others who understand the need to paint, make dolls, plant flowers and love their pets.

But try as I might, there are still those days when a sadness settles over me. Today was one of those days. The sky is heavy with the coming snow, I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything I need to get accomplished for the coming holidays and to be honest, I was remembering people in my life that have passed on and who I miss terribly.

SO! it's been a real bummer kind of day and then Colleen leaves me a comment on my last post to go to her blog.

OMG! My eyes filled with eyes and my head was swimming with happiness! On her blog http://loopyboopy.blogspot.com/ was an unbelievable post about ME! Me and my blog and my dog Blue and how we are friends via blogs and in the Spirit of Giving she is giving me this fantastic doll named Rachelle! I can NOT believe her kindness! She knows that I think that she is the God-dess of all doll makers! I have told her that I bow to her greatness! I am constantly amazed at every doll she has created. I love how her mind works (and that it has a bit of a twist! LOL!) There are angels on earth! She was there to pull my spirit up when I really needed it. And she is giving me a gift that I will cherish and look upon everyday and think of the moment that MADE this holiday for me. I'M SO HAPPY!

A Christmas Doll from 2006!

I haven't created anything lately (except a mess) around here! I'm so busy at the "day" job this time of year. I have promised myself that I will start right after the Holiday Season and finally get my Etsy shop up and running. I made this Raggedy Anne doll for my niece Maggie three years ago. She is made of muslin that I painted and sanded and painted again. I sewed each piece of yarn to her little head and created her dress and petticoat. I have to admit that it took me several weekends to get her done. I think that she measured just under 2 feet long. She was definitely a learning experience!

I learned that she took too long to make for her to be profitable!

I also think that she is just too big!

I personally would rather have something smaller.

Something that could maybe sit on a shelf?

Anyway Maggie loved her and that is all that really mattered. So, very soon I am going to begin making smaller dolls and cat dolls for my shop. I also plan to do some more collage paintings and also sell some of my "vintage" finds (if I can part with them LOL!)

SO THERE - I've put it out there! Now I have to get going and DO IT!

It's a SNOW day!

Everyday that I go to work I take my dog Blue with me. He's a Great Dane mix and he's deaf. Last time I weighed him he came in at 164 lbs. He is a bit of a couch potato and loves his food and treats. I've tried to cut back on his food but then he gets hungry and starts looking for stuff. Since his head is level with the kitchen table and the counters I have to be very careful not to leave anything out. He once ate a box of Poptarts and most of the box itself. He's eaten cereal that hadn't been opened yet. Popped the lid off of a jar of peanut butter and also got into a bag of tortilla chips. (You might have noticed how healthy I am!) anyway, I have tried switching to a lowfat food but then I catch him sneaking into the laundry room to eat the little ones kibble! Both Blue and I have been trying to be more active, so today when I got to work and business was so slow (because everyone in town is indoors hibernating!) I decided to try and play with him in the big enclosed play area that we have behind our boarding faculty. I was laughing so hard that it was difficult to take some of the photos. It's pretty rare to see him REALLY RUN! I guess he just got a burst of energy from all the cold and snow! So here's some pics of him racing around!
God, I love that dog!

1:00 pm Snowing Again!

And now the wind has really picked up!

5:00 am...So Far...Weather-people wrong!

Just a quick post before heading off to the day job! Last night I was to meet friends for dinner but that got quickly cancelled when it started to sleet icy rain- snow. We were supposed to get AT LEAST 12 inches overnight but so far the readings have only come in at 5 to 7 inches. Yes, more snow predicted for today, so I am still crossing my fingers! (I think I helped by buying TWO buckets of ICE MELT and actually being prepared! JINX!)

Well...It's Started!!!

Several of the blogs that I visit have posted photos of a beautiful layer of snow. A lot of these are in towns that don't usually even have snow and everyone is so excited! I totally agree how pretty it can be and so magical at night when everything is so still and quiet except for the "crunch" of the snow as you walk through it. I have commented on it and agree with them on the loveliness of it but I also point out how much I hate trying to get my little car out of it in the morning. I dread trying to shovel in the biting wind, my toes and fingers burning in the cold even though I'm all layered up! My nose starting to run and my glasses fogging up above the scarf tied around my face. I do love being inside under a warm blanket covered with my critters but when I have to go outside...AAHHHHH. Yes, I guess I am complaining but at least the cold weather makes me cherish the spring all the more!
Here is a pic of my little lighted snowman today at 1:00 pm. Tonight we are supposed to get the worst blizzard around here since 1979. Let's hope the weather-people are wrong! I will post an updated photo tomorrow morning! (After I dig out my car and also make a little path for my little ones!!! HO HO HO HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Ruby - The Gold Nose Reindeer!

I am REALLY trying to get into the Christmas mode. I just seem to be going in "slow-motion"!

I haven't listed anything on Ebay and I still have not opened up my shop on Etsy. I have been trying to collect vintage pieces for my shop that only reflect what I love. I made a pact with myself that every item would only be something that I would want myself, and therein lies the problem! So many things have found their "perfect" spot in my own house! LOL! I haven't been "creating" anything in my few spare hours. I find myself exhausted after coming home from my "day" job and then tending to the pets. I just started on some little black cat-dolls and have several paintings half-finished and I still need to decorate the house and start my Christmas shopping!

So, to alleviate myself some stress, I definitely won't start up my shop until the beginning of the New Year! So...this is a little vintage reindeer that I found (and love) and she will help me decorate for this Holiday (less is more for me) and then sometime later she will be available to go to her a NEW home. (for now I'll call her "Ruby" after one of my little dogs!)

Giveaway on Lineanongrata!

Julia Freund, this fantastic illustrator that I discovered on Etsy, has a great blog and is having a giveaway every day for 24 days. Please take a moment and check it out!
http://juliafreund.typepad.com/lineanongrata/2009/12/another-year-another-advent-calendar.html
I think I originally discovered her because of her awesome "scratchy cat"!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11393519
Check her out on Etsy too.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lineanongrata

All Quiet, except the sound of SNORING!

It's been a very tiring and stressful few days. I've been very busy at my "day" job, coming in early and staying late. All day long a lot of hard work but the weekend is finally here, hopefully I can rest a little bit. Obviously "Blue" has no problem relaxing!

Hope everyone had a Good Holiday!

OK! I'm crazy

I have a large furry family that consists of one 164lb Great Dane mix, a herd of little tiny dogs, several cats and Jimmy Chew. Jimmy Chew (I originally named him Jimmy Choo like the shoes but when he started to chew up everything, I changed the spelling...like HE knows!) Anyway- he's a Boston terrier mixed with a Cairn terrier (like Toto from Wizard of Oz) and the combination makes for a super high energy dog. He is too much for my little ones and he scares them with all his energy (or he knocks them over!) and my big dog is pretty much irritated with most of his antics. So after a lot of thought, I decided to get him a playmate his size to wear off some of that energy! I answered an ad for a "terrier mix" and found Dexter! He's part Jack Russell and who knows what! And he's a bundle of excitement! He "clicked" with Jimmy immediately! (and of course loved my niece Lily at first sight!) I've had him for 3 weeks now and he's done wonders for Jimmy! Both of them go to work with me everyday and play and play. Then they come home and crash- fast asleep! and the little ones can run around the house and play without being terrorized! I am happy with my crazy idea. Dexter seems to be very happy too. The people who got rid of him said that he barked at the husband all the time and the husband was sick of it (???) - They gave me a crate for him to sleep in and the first night I set it up as instructed, complete with his special blanket, only to turn around and find him snuggled up under the blanket on the bed. So he sleeps with all the little ones on the bed (I KNEW I should have gotten a king-size). I know that a FEW people think I'm nuts to get a dog for a dog but those same people do things that I don't always understand either. Soooo... whatever! (I might change his name though to Ralphie. Not from "Christmas Story" but as in Ralph Lauren! (tee hee -I have 2 little poodles, one named Louis Vuitton pronounced as Louie and the other Vera Wag!) OK! I'm crazy!

A Star is Born!

I have three nieces. The youngest is Lily. She shares my love of animals. She has been my helper at the boarding kennel and at my home. When she was little, she called herself "Balto" and signed all her school papers with that name! I remember driving around with her in the backseat of the car to go yard-saling. She would like to have me play classical music (violin) on the radio and shout "turn it up" when she was only 6 years old. We would argue about everything and when she got really mad, she would call me "Cindia" because she couldn't pronounce Cynthia (which I'm never really called anyway!) She was such a tomboy and wanted to be a Park Ranger.

She's now fourteen, listens to "Taylor Swift" and other music that I don't even know the name of! She still loves animals and still helps me and we still argue. She is now going to be a Photographer. (she took some of the cemetery photos and all the sailboat photos in my past posts.)

A couple of months ago she decided to try out for the school play. She got one of the lead parts!

She never ceases to amaze me! When she first came out on stage I felt like sobbing! Where was that little girl? How had she grown up in an instant!

TOO MUCH CANDY? !!!

I used to fit through these stair rails with no problem!?

Could it be that I ate too much leftover Halloween candy!

Runs in the Family!

Well, it's over.

I decorated the yard with ghosts, including a HUGE one with a pumpkin head. I lit the trees with orange lights, lined the steps with jack-o-lanterns and tried to make the front porch "magical". I got a few little Spiderman trick-a-treaters, a couple of Princess's and a very cute Fairy and even a devil in a red cape Maltese stopped by!

But then the carloads and vans started pulling up and dropping off kids in hoodies carrying pillowcases. A couple of them had TWO, requesting a treat for their "cousin". Oh well, I do think it would have been nice if they had at least SOME kind of costume. I noticed that many of the houses had not turned on their lights at all this year. So, not too long after that I turned off my porch-light and headed off to my sisters.

She had a great Halloween party, completely with a big FEAST! They were serving hard Apple Cider Ale and Cosmos and a table full of good eats. Music and conversation and "Day of the Dead" movie were all going at the same time. Her home looked "magical and spooky" with most people in costume. It was a fun evening hosted by my sister and her husband, check out their photos! -SCARY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

These are some photos that my niece and I took in one of the cemeteries in our city. This is just a very small sampling of of what it looks like.

The house is the caretakers home.

The steps are at the beginning of the cemetery, which is HUGE.

The are so many statues and monuments and mausoleums.

Some headstones have the actual photograph of the deceased set into the stone and covered in glass.

One grave has a statue of a dog laying next to his owners burial site.

There are so many that date back more than 100 years.

We took just a few pictures and were very careful not to intrude on anyone visiting or let them see us taking pictures in case of they might think that we were being disrespectful.

I thought for Halloween the photos might look best in black and white.

Boo!!! - "My Costume"

This is in response to Junker Jane asking everyone to dress up for Halloween!

This is also for Georgina of La Llorona Arts (scary!-she will know why! Ha! Ha!)

My little toy poodle "Louie" preferred not to be in costume!

My First Paperclay Doll!

Well, here's my first attempt at making a Paperclay doll! I definitely can see where I need to make changes and improvements. I think her arms are too thick and I should have put wire through the top of her arms rather than have it coming out of the ends. I don't like how her neck is so thick and the painting of her pink top was a bad choice and I don't like how I made the skirt! I just read how to make a transfer from a scanner copy with gel medium onto muslin and that's how I transferred my nieces face onto the fabric and then attached that to the head with gel medium and painted over her hair with acrylics. Hmmmm.... I'm not too happy with it. I also think she looks kinda scary (and not in a good way!) Oh well, my first try - try and try again right! LOL - I would really love to get some helpful criticisms and/or tips! Some please leave me some comments! Go ahead, I can take it! (I think., no I can - go ahead).

I GOT IT !!!

I went to the estate sale and got that chair I blogged about on Saturday! Half price!

I'm so happy! Here's a photo of it and also a close-up of the fabric. (I also got the portrait on the wall a couple of months ago at an estate sale too.) I'm almost done decorating my living room and almost every item was a "found" treasure! My highest priced item was $45.00! This chair was $32.50 and if I remember correctly the painting was $8.00! WaaHoo! I love saving money!

Since I don't really have any!

My Beautiful Chair

I'm going to go back to an estate sale today and see if a chair that I wanted is still there. Estate sales around are full price on Thursdays, 20% off on Fridays and half price on Saturdays. Since I am on a strict budget, I usually wait until Saturday unless I find something I will really regret not getting. I got this beautiful chair about a month ago. I was so excited that it was silly. I showed people at my "day" job photos of it and while some commented on how lovely it was, I could see the puzzled look in other peoples eyes. They are the people who always buy furniture in "groupings" and it must be brand new. And that's cool for them, I totally understand that because I grew up in a house like that but I LOVE the mystery and history of finding "special" pieces. I feel bad knowing that someone has past on but I feel that since I will treasure their things as special, that maybe "they" would be OK with that. I once went to an auction where all the furniture and personal things were scattered out all over the lawn in the bright glaring sunlight with people flopped down on the furniture waiting for the bidding to begin. It was my first "auction" and I had to leave because I felt bad for the owner having their treasures so haphazardly scattered about. Most of my friends said I was being silly because the owner had passed away and won't know, but my really close friends totally understood. I just think there's a difference between an estate sale in the privacy of the house and an auction with each item held up to scrutiny. One of the women at my "day" job said I should just go to auctions anyway and I would get used to them...but I don't want to get used to it. I might be strange but I feel like the previous owner would rather it be that way. Anyway, that's how kooky I can be and here's a my photo of my beautiful chair!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Well ! -I got an award from Pam from yoborobo --- Kreativ Blogger Award!

I'm still very new to blogging but I guess this means that I tell 7 things about myself that you wouldn't know, so here it goes!

1. I'm left-handed when I write or paint but I'm right-handed for everything else.

2. I only like to drink out of glass, not plastic.

3. I like elderly people and really listen to their stories.

4. My first thought in the morning is "What's for Breakfast!"

5. I know more dogs that I like than people.

6. I hate "window" shopping.

7. I don't understand when people are bored and have nothing to do.


I don't really have 7 bloggers to pass this on to, especially since Georgina from La Llorona Arts has just gotten several and Pam is the one who sent this to me! But hey! Thanks for the award!

It's over...sigh!

This morning I opened the backdoor to let my dogs out and at first I thought it was "spitting" rain, but NO! It was snowflakes!!! My dogs must have had the same thought as I did because everyone hurried out and did their "business' and ran right back up to the door! Luckily it was for just a couple of hours and nothing stuck but ... SNOW!

Needless to say, It's over for my garden. I ran some errands and then spent time tiding up outside, I had to bring in my glazed fountain and my favorite glazed birdbath. I left three more out for the birds and then I dug up a couple of begonias that looked like they where hanging on. I also brought in all my potted and hanging plants and brought in the metal ornaments. My garden looks so sad, just my beautiful yellow marigolds lining the driveway that are still hanging on and my catmint plants still have purple flowers. Poor things, it's supposed to dip to a low of 28 degrees tonight. I did hang some orange lights on my little dead tree and I have a couple of "ghosts" in the yards plus the pumpkin on the steps. Sigh...

I guess NOW I will finally start creating inside!