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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tins

So my husband has made a new little habit of buying sardines, & cooking them up in our house(yuck!). He does nicely open up the kitchen windows for me, & turn on the kitchen fan, so the aroma will hopefully drift out.  
But, I did notice the sardines have one saving grace...the great little tins they come in.  Just the right size for small works of art, after being given a nice long soap bath of course :)









Monday, December 26, 2011

Day After

Day after the main event, a lot of taking dolls & action figures out of their many layers of packaging!  Keeping the dogs from eating the new toys that are strewn about. Little Bear was running around with Spider Man in her mouth earlier, I thought I might have to wrestle a dog.  Have been snacking on way too many goodies left over.  I need to stay away from hummus.  Good thing we got out on the exercise path earlier.  Sun is shining... a good day.  Usually I feel a little let down after Christmas, all the hustle & bustle & excitement is over.  So far it hasn't hit....


More Lalaloopsy dolls
Here are pics of our last few days of celebration:


Christmas church service
India with her Great Grandma
Reading the Christmas story
New jewelry box from Aunt Jennifer & family
I don't remember being happy about getting clothes when I was their age.
Handmade wooden shark car
                                                 
At my parent's house
                                          
Playing with Grandma & Grandpa's jukebox

Here a few of the fun things I got this Christmas...love them!


1.  Monkey Portraits book from my friend Maya
2.  Girl 039 Painting by GreasyChickenFace from Richard
3.  A Perfectly Kept House Is The Sign Of A Misspent Life book from my folks...I saw it on this blog:    SFGirlByBay & had to have it.
4.  Lost In Your Dreams Artwork by Maria Pace-Wynters from Richard

Ok, I am leaving now with a monkey picture from the book, & a slight tangent.  Looking through the pictures of all their faces, I was thinking how could someone have not created & designed these unique & funny & intelligent creatures? For that matter, all the many other bi-zillion species. To me all of nature shows great design.  Anyway,  that was my little off shoot...I'll stop typing  now :)



Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Wishes

      Best Christmas wishes for a wonderful holiday with family & friends!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Countdown

It feels like I have made way too many trips to The Spectrum(our outdoor mall around here)lately, & like I practically live at Target.  Today was getting some stocking stuffers, a gift for my Mom, meeting some old friends & old Youth Pastor for lunch(some of them I haven't seen for 15 years or more). All is busy, busy, but good. Christmas is sprinkled everywhere around our house.  Decorations, wrap, presents(trying to remember what good place I hid them in). The kids ask multiple times a day, "how many days left"?  I tell them it'll be here & gone before you know it, enjoy all the days leading up to it, & all we are doing now. Anyway, but then they just turn around & ask me later how long til' Christmas.  I think they got their patience(or lack thereof) from their Mom :) 
Here is my reindeer I was complaining about the other day...Aynsley & Her Antlers.  Her eye is all spiffed up now.
            Getting Christmas cards makes me happy.
A little angel decoration I made a few years ago, with Sage's picture.
Every night of vacation the kids have a camp out in the living room.  Usually the dogs are excited & jump all over their blankets at first, but eventually curl up with them. 3 kids lying down, 3 dogs snoozing... then my house is quiet & all is peaceful.

Monday, December 19, 2011

A One-Eyed Deer & Other Stories

Blahhh....I have been getting really frustrated trying to make things today!  I had the house to myself, cause Richard took the kids to visit relatives.  The perfect time to get things done, & so I have been working on things without much success.  My girl with antlers here was looking good, until I sprayed her with a varnish, & for some reason her whole eye started running down her face....only one eye(weird).  Damn deer.  Maybe she will sport an eyepatch.  Hopefully, I can fix her up tomorrow.




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This past weekend was our niece Jacque's wedding(& Frank's too).  Cody was the ring bearer in it, & his cousin Darcy was one of the flower girls.  I was worried he wouldn't want to go down the aisle but he ended up doing a great job :)  Here are some snapshots of our weekend.
The traffic was so, sooooo bad on the way to the wedding rehearsal,  & our navigation system sent us the wrong way at one point, frustrating!  We left hours ahead of time & still were late, & my usually mild mannered husband was saying he was going to drive our car over a bridge! I found it a tiny bit amusing, seeing him so fired up.  But I felt bad for him, cause he was the driver, so I stayed somewhat quiet(as quiet as I can be).  We eventually got there, & got to catch up with family we haven't seen in awhile & all was good :)






Playing in the elevator at the reception.
Out Shopping

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Handmade Christmas...not so much

I had the idea (a good one I thought), to make some Christmas gifts.  I mean, personally I would rather have some something someone poured their heart & soul into...or at least a little bit of soul :)  Some blood,  sweat & tears...now that means something.  Anyway, it was a nice idea.  But so far, not so good, & I get a little too focused on things(at the expense of other things) when I am working on something. You should see my house!  Ha ha... a wee bit neglected. Seriously, I have a suitcase from a trip a month ago, that is still not completely unpacked.  I kind of feel like I turn into a mad scientist in my lab, when I am working on a project/art piece.  So I spent a good deal of time trying to do some embroidery, that I was planning to give away.  Halfway through, I wasn't liking them too much, they just weren't what I envisioned in my head.  I hate when that happens!  I will probably try again though.  Here are a few of the attempts...




Then I got caught up making this collage below.  Just experimenting.  This was never planned to be a gift. As much as family/friends may like me, I am sure they don't want a collage of me on their wall :)  



I showed this to Richard & said "see what goes on in my head"?  Ha ha.  He had nothing to say... he was probably thinking "this is what she does with her day?"

On to other things:  Here is Little Bear trying to get to her birthday treats.  She is 1 year old today.


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Glass Jar Scenes

I have been making these little creations, in re-used jars, just because they are fun...



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Trees and Other Festive Things

I am catching up from a few days ago....the kids had fun  making a Gingerbread house, the other day, & Cody had fun eating his fair share of frosting.  We picked our small but happy little tree out, & decorated it all up.  That part of Christmas is ready, but in every other way, I don't feel ready for it!  Ughhhhh.  I want to be in the spirit of things, & be in the moment, but when I look at the list of stuff to be done on each day next week...I feel a bit overwhelmed.  Maybe I should burn the list(now that's an idea!)  Ha ha.  I guess that wouldn't be too responsible of me to shirk my duties.  I am just going to keep reminding myself to not stress, & to enjoy the little magical moments(especially with my kids)....even if they happen to be tucked in between a lot of not so magical stuff :)












Yesterday, we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland.  At first they thought they were getting ready for school in the morning.  Then I told them we had to go to a wedding rehearsal for their cousin(who's getting married next week).  It didn't dawn on them we were actually at Disneyland, until we were in the parking lot.  I've never been there around Christmas time, so it was fun to see all the decorations up.











Thursday, December 1, 2011

He can't get mad about a Jesus statue, can he?!

Happy December 1st...wow! I love these red December pictures(actually all of her pictures), from the very talented Violet Bella, this is the last month it will grace my wall. **sigh** Then off to 2012!


So today, I took a little trip to a vintage store, called Whimzy, that also sells little odds & ends, for your own creations. Oh man, I probably shouldn't have stepped foot in there.  I was doing good, just picking out a few little treasures to include in my art, & then I saw it.  In a glass case, tucked back in the corner was a 1930's Jesus statue, & I had to have it. I asked how much, I held it in my hands, I debated, I walked away & decided to be good.  Then when the nice lady was ringing me up, I kept glancing over at Him, behind the glass & decided He needed to come home with me.  Soooo, I guess I am crossing my fingers that Richard sees what I see in Him, & realizes that I really did try to walk away & be strong, but it was fate I tell you.


             Stuff from my new fun store :)