MICHAEL SOWA

Michael Sowa is one of my favorite artists. I first discovered his work in the movie - "Amélie".
I love that movie! Yes, it's in French but the subtitles just flow along the bottom of the screen and are so easy to follow. Visually it's such a beautiful movie to watch. I adore the music and the storyline is wonderful.
And then there's Michael Sowa's artwork. I love the prints hanging in Amelie's bedroom!

You've probably seen the "Diving Pig" print before.

Or maybe the "Girl with Bear".

My niece Maggie loves rabbits, so I've gotten her several of the different "Bunny" prints.

I'm thinking of getting some of THESE prints for myself:

Maybe one of these in my dining area -

This is such a small sample of his work.
I love how there's a "story" in each one. Here's one entitled "Duck flees Manor".

I love how his work is so unique.

LOL!

YASMIN and TWINKLE

My friend Yasmin Mundaca, Illustrator, Artist and Graphic Designer was inspired by a photo of my Twinkle in her Halloween Costume when I entered Twinkle and Blue in a contest (they went as "Dancing with the Dogs")

 
and I am totally blown away with the results! She captured her perfectly. I love the "eyes". So many artists never seem to be able to capture the right look when it comes to the eyes. Yasmin has achieved perfection! That's my Twinkle! What a great honor to have such a talented artist paint my Twink!

Please take a moment to stop by Yasmin's blog.
http://mundomundaca.blogspot.com/

She is a sweet and caring person with such a BIG heart, and a FANTASTIC artist!

Sometimes she's in Brazil, sometimes Portugal and sometimes Cleveland!!! She shares my love for animals and I'm proud to call her my friend.
She also has an Etsy shop filled with her fabulous prints! Here's a link to it:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mundomundaca

Thank You, Yasmin! I adore the painting and YOU!
XOXO - Cindi

HORSEY AROUND

I forgot to mention that I recently sold some paintings at my job at the vet clinic.  I have several paintings hanging in the exam rooms and the bathroom but I hadn't put any prices on them.
I have such a hard time trying to price my work but finally I did and SURPRISE! I sold two! Then last Tuesday someone asked if I painted horses. I said that I had never really tried but I'd give it a go. I warned her that it might come out looking like a hound dog.
Then on Wednesday, I had ANOTHER person ask me if I paint horses! I told her that I planned on trying and I'd let her know when I got one done and see what she thought. (She also wants me to paint one of her dachshunds).
So I will be researching horses.

I think the reason that I've never tried painting horses is because I don't want to think about them.

When I was in grade school I remember that towards the end of the day the music teacher would put on a"record" and tell us to sit quietly at our desks and close our eyes and listen to the music and to make a daydream in our heads as we listened to the music. I realize now that she just wanted us to quiet down but I LOVED listening to the music and my daydreams were ALWAYS the same. Horses. Horses running. Horse jumping. Me on a horse flying through green grass.

I remember during summer breaks playing "skits" with my sister and our friends out in our backyard. It was usually centered around us pretending that we lived on a ranch and rode horses. Or sometimes I'd just go out to our swings and swing as high as I could and feel the wind on my face and pretend that I was on a horse.

I remember my best birthday ever when my Mom organized a birthday party for me and my friends and we all went horseback riding.

We went riding a couple of times after that and then she started talking about how I could probably get a horse when I turned sixteen. I was only 11 or 12 but I was so excited! Unfortunately life doesn't always turn out as we plan. She passed away when I was 14. When I turned 16 there was no party and definitely no horse.

I remember making a new friend when I was in junior high school and I would hang out at her house as much as possible. I would walk to and from her house that was about 2 miles away. One day I decided to cut through some of the backyards and across a field to go home. As I walked through the grassy field I noticed a fence running parallel to it. I wandered over and there stood a HORSE. It came to the fence and I would rub it's nose. I always walked that way home from then on, hoping to see the horse.

That was probably the last time I was around a horse...

Some dreams aren't meant to be. So I just prefer not to think about them.

Sigh...but now I guess I'll have to.

AARRGGHH! TESTING! TESTING!

I've tried to post twice and Blogger keeps "saving" my text and then deleting it out!
Am I the only one having these problems?

Thomas Edison and the NEWEST plan

http://greigedesign.blogspot.com

You mostly likely know someone who has a plan, a scheme, an idea for what they are going to do with their life, their career and that changes daily, weekly or monthly. You get might get tired of their ever changing plans. They seem to flutter here and there and only land on something for a moment, not taking the time to finish what they have started. Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man (woman) and I will show you a failure.

Maybe they are on quest for happiness or just a good enough income to pay the bills but they can be exasperating to listen to sometimes. You start thinking to yourself, will she just PICK something and just do it!
But maybe she just wants to do it all. Yes, I'm sure that you know someone like that because that someone is me. I was getting a bit tired of myself too but then I thought of my mentor.
Thomas Edison :

 I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
I've talked about him before in other posts, but sometimes I need to go back and remind myself.-
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
and
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
So, here's my NEW idea (but I haven't abandoned my others) I plan on combining my home improvements with pet related products! The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
If you been reading my blog for very long you know that I love White and Vintage/Junk mixed with Modern Country and Black.

http://greigedesign.blogspot.com

I follow a lot of Design Blogs and the majority of them show their OWN homes as they re-do them. They are always posted before and afters......Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

So I got to thinking (while looking around my home at half finished projects) Why don't I start posting MY improvements and/or remodeling projects!? I was thinking that the "pressure" of posting would PUSH me to get it done. Now I warn you, my house won't look like so many of the fabulous homes on other blogs

http://greigedesign.blogspot.com

but Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.So, there will probably be times when you will shake your head and think - What is that? Why does she have that in there? Does she actually LIKE that? But - Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

I plan on doing most everything myself,  mainly because of the cashflow problem! LOL!
And I certainly won't get it done as quickly as a lot of the other blogs because I work full-time (and sometimes over-time) but slowly and surely it will get done. So the posts will be random. But I agree that -
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
and the pet products part? Well, I find that I can't afford the dog beds and things that I would like and that would fit into my decor. So I must make my own. (The items I CAN afford seem to be poorly made and are in colors and patterns that just don't fit into my home). So I plan on also making some things that I would like in MY home and will sell in my Etsy shop.... eventually. They will be one of a kind things like dog beds and signs and things made with "found treasures". So stay tuned!

 To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
Thomas A. Edison

FULL HOUSE

Well, I have a full house now.

Yes, Yes! I can hear you all out in Blogland screaming that it was already full but....

now it truly is.

I have had some of my cats staying at the vet clinic that I work at for a couple of years. It was nice because they got alot of attention from everyone, the employees and some of the visitors.
They were running loose in the cat room. The Doc had OK'd it but now he wants to redo the room into a Water Therapy room complete with a Water Treadmill. So, I brought my cats home.
I spent the last weekend and I mean the WHOLE weekend, cleaning and PURGING out my basement. I've gotten it all organized and then I set it up with industrial carpet squares and a few rugs. I then used some of the CHAIRS that I just HAD to buy and arranged it into a couple of nice "rooms". The basement is painted cement block walls and completely open.
I used one of the DOORS that I got from ReStore and blocked off a section and put the litter boxes behind it (for their privacy).
The cats now have the whole basement to themselves, well... except for the areas stacked with my vintage finds or my "boards" to paint and other odd and ends, but basically the width and length of the house and they have two windows. I've stacked Rubbermaid containers underneath the windows so that they can lay on top and watch the rabbits eat my flowers and the squirrels jumping in the trees taunting my dogs.


So, who did I bring home?
Kanga, my cat with no front legs.

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2009/09/kanga.html

Horton, my fat cat who is scared of dogs.

and Little Bug, my crippled cat that is scared of NOTHING

and chases Ralphie upstairs when he tries to enter the CAT DOMAIN. (None of the other dogs come downstairs because they are frightened of the openback stairs.) well, wait....sometimes my old Griffin comes down

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2010/04/griffin-raccoon.html
in search of "kitty granola" but Little Bug bats him away too.

I DO let the cats upstairs, but only when I'm home. I have some furniture upstairs that I would rather not have shredded. They are actually pretty good about not doing that. But of course I trim their nails regularly and they have their scratching posts downstairs. Sometimes I don't let them upstairs while I'm home because some things I can not get accomplished if they are upstairs.
Like cooking.
Cotton, who is my old white cat that is basically a walking skeleton covered in white fur. She has a hyper-thyroid problem and is on medication that must be given twice day. (which she hates and fights twice a day). She likes to sit on my stovetop. I'm assuming it's warm there and she sits on it until the pilot light gets too hot on her bottom and then runs around the top area of the house JUST out of the dogs reach. The little dogs REALLY want to get her for some reason. I know her days are numbered, so I let her eat all the canned food she wants. She has a ravenous appetite.

And then there's Harry.

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-museharry.html
The cat love of my life. He is always trying to wrap his front legs around my neck and rub his face on my chin. He loves doing that. Hanging on, purring and rubbing. On the other side of me is usually Ghost,

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-is-my-cat-ghost.html
My white cat that was LOST for a month and 3 days. I did my very FIRST post about him.
He follows me room to room and constantly reaches out for me and demands to be held. So...if I'm really trying to accomplish something, I have to keep them downstairs.

So now you know why I work at the vet clinic and probably can't ever quit unless I win the lottery!

MIND READER?

OK, when I tell everyone this, I'm sure there will be eye-rolling and people thinking that I made this up but it's true!

There are times when I can sort of know what a dog is thinking. I'm not saying that they are "communicating" clear "full" complete sentences to me. I personally do not believe that they think like that. I think that the interpretation is sometimes easier for people to understand  if someone "translates" it into a sentence but I feel like it's more like a telepathic message. It's like when a dog will look at me and I will just know that he won't bite me. Or at work when a dog looks at me and I will see that his look is different from all the other dogs in a row of runs and just KNOW that he has to go outside to potty. And there have been times when I know that something is wrong. Unfortunately, I don't get a full clear message like "My tummy hurts" it's just a feeling that something is wrong.
Now I've never really thought about it being the other way around. Where they might be reading MY mind...until yesterday.

You see, when Blue sits in my front passenger seat the weight of him makes the seat belt buzzer go off. So if I plan for him to sit up front I have to him get in and then I reach across so that the belt is across his chest and I buckle him in like a person. Then when we get home he jumps out of the seat and the belt has stayed buckled. The other day I put him in the back of the van where I keep the kennel for my terriers to ride in but I also have a couple of comforters draped out for Blue to lounge on. So a few days ago as I'm driving, Blue figures out that he can squeeze between the front seats and climb up front. Because the belt was still buckled the buzzer didn't go off. Then yesterday as we are driving home, he once again climbed up into the front. I look over at him for a moment. We are sailing down the Interstate in evening traffic. There are alot of drivers switching lanes and merging off ramps and I am wishing that I had driven home through town instead. I start thinking to myself that if Blue is going to continue insisting on riding up front, then I am going to have to make sure that the seat belt is across his chest because if one of these frenzied drivers causes an accident I don't want Blue to go sailing head first through the windshield. I just had this thought and I see out of the corner of my eye, Blue stand up on the seat. I think - Oh My God what is he doing?! He's awfully big to be pulling this stunt. I try to maintain my  speed and I can't take my eyes off the road but in my peripheral vision I can see him making some circles on the seat and then he sits down. I keep my eyes on the road and just shake my head. What was he doing? Getting more comfortable? I approach our off- ramp and merge into the lanes leading into town and pull up to the stoplight. I turn now and look at him. He's sitting in the seat like a person. He's on his butt and his back is against the window with his hind legs straight out pointing towards me. In his "turning of circles" he has somehow walked himself into the snapped seat belt. He's got the strap across his chest....

I drive on and stop at the library. I pull out my camera out and take some photos of him. I wish I would have had enough room to back up in so that I could have shown his legs but you can see the strap in place. I never touched it.
Hmmm, who's reading whose mind?

CATS WITH THUMBS

A FUNNY TALE TO SOME

but not to me.
Before I begin this tale I need to give a little background story about some of my quirks.
Yes, apparently I have some quirks. Or at least that is what my friends and some of my co-workers tell me. I personally think that I am completely normal and it's just that other people don't get it.
So here are some of my "issues".
I hate white soft bread.

That soft stuff that sticks to the roof of your mouth just gags me. When I was a kid living at home, my sister would have bread balls for an after school snack. She would pinch off the crust and roll the white doughy WonderBread  between her hands into balls and gnaw on them like a rabbit. I couldn't stand to watch her. Gross. I preferred dark rye and pumpernickel.
Then there's the whole milk thing.

I hate milk. Especially WHOLE milk, the thick the grosser. I only like fat-free and ice cold and then only on my cereal. Actually Vanilla Soy would be my first pick.
Yep, a BIG glass of milk to me sounds awful. The only thing worst is if it's in a plastic glass. When I was a little kid and someone would ask if I wanted a drink of something, I ALWAYS said "Yes. please. In a glass-glass please". Something about the feel of plastic on my lips. I also have a HUGE problem drinking after people, Actually I don't do it. OK, there have been a FEW times when I have felt "forced" to do so and then if it was someone like my sister or one of my nieces, my family, I would wipe off the spot on the glass and take a drink. Or I would just ask for my own glass. But if it was a social type of thing and I just couldn't find a way out of it gracefully, I would subtly "turn" the glass so I wouldn't sip from the same spot.
The girls at work laugh at me because there was a woman that used to work at the clinic who I couldn't stand to eat lunch with.

She would microwave her lunch and sit down at the lunch table and "blow" on her soup or whatever and blow on me. So if she was microwaving, I would sit at an angle to her rather than across from her. I hated the thought of her "blowing" on MY food. But then she started bringing her milk in a Tupperware container with a cap on it and would sit there drinking it out of plastic. My good friend would sit there and give me the EYE and smile. She KNEW that it was bugging me. But then the woman would end her lunch with her big last gulp and hold it in her mouth and puff out her cheeks and swish it around in her mouth. I just couldn't take it and asked her "WHAT are you doing?!" and she would reply that she was swishing out anything that might be stuck in her teeth........my friend would try to control her laughter but I had had it. I might pick up dog poop for a living, I might assist in a surgery where they remove an eyeball and I've seen some disgusting exploratory surgeries but THIS turned my stomach so much so that I just started to run "errands" on my lunch hour or else sit at my desk and look up "stuff" on the computer.
OK, so now you know about some of my "quirks" or what I view as normal.
So now for my tale.
I have decided to try to "treat" myself more. I think nothing of picking up a new toy or cute collar or whatever for my dogs. But I tend to be very frugal when it's something "personal" for myself. So, one day I'm at the check-out counter and I need some Chap-Stick. In this dry cold weather my lips are always getting chapped so I reach for it but then I see Burt's Bees chap-stick

and it's tinted in a berry color. It's a bit more expensive but I figure Hey! I'm worth it and besides it will give me a little color without being a heavy lipstick.
So I buy it.
I keep it in my winter jacket pocket, a place to easily grab it when I'm outside watching the dogs.
So chap-stick, gloves and car keys are in my pockets.
The other day I run over to Target on my lunch hour. I was lucky. I got the first parking spot in one of the rows right next to the snow covered grass median. I get out of my van, pull my gloves out of pockets and put them on and lock the van.
I ran around Target quickly and grabbed what I needed and came back out to my van. There laying in the snow I see my Burt's Bees chap-stick. Crap! To think that I almost lost it! I pick it up and wipe the snow off of it, pull my keys out of my right pocket and get in my van. I flipped down the visor and look in the mirror. Yep, I need some stick on my lips. I carefully smear it on and then replace the cap and put it in my left pocket.
Wait a minute, what's in my pocket?
I pull out my glove and MY Burt's Bees!
If anyone was walking by my van at that moment, they probably thought that I was having a seizure of some sort.

AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!
I then start furiously rubbing the stuff off my lips. I know subconsciously that it's too late. I've already got someones "COOTIES". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooties : •Cooties is a non-scientific term in North American English used by children for an imaginary "disease" said to infect through contact.

I go back to work and tell my co-workers that they won't believe what happened to me at lunch!
And THEY all thought it was hysterical.
Me? Not so much.