Just a quick post, as I've got to make a trip to the grocery store, then to one of those Dollar Stuff stores...seems that some pretty good name brand products are showing themselves more and more on the shelves of those stores. So, while I'm not a name brand junkie, I do like to buy some products that have a good label..and the plus..if I can get said products for a whole lot less than anywhere else. Even that World Mart chain..I've discovered that they have higher prices than the dollar places, so what's the point in going in the World Mart if you end up spending more?? ~ ! ~ Penny Pinching is an art unto itself, and if I can get any good at it, then I'm gonna KEEP TRYING no matter what!

I made a trip to one of the teeny little "stores" down the road..it's just a little knock-about place, probably been opened for the lat 30 years..if you dislike the smell of cigarettes, then you'll probably not want to go inside the place. And if you don't really want to hear the latest "gossip" - (or "Jus' discussin' thangs..") - then the place isn't for you either.

But it is a spot where Noah has to get his over-the-top-sugar coated Honey Donuts...glaze, cinnamon an' who knows what else all over the things. But he, unlike his mother, can burn off all those 1200 calories in probably 14 minutes. On the other hand, I'd be wearing those fat calories in less than 5 minutes, and they'd be stickin' around for the next 10years.

But anyway -

Tha's where I went earlier this morning, and now while I listen to the sound of the washing machine goin' into it's final spin cycle, I'm going to dry my jeans, get some of my mop of hair stuck in a rubber band, and then get some sodas for noah..plus bread, eggs, whatever else is on the list. ne of those grocery store trips where you pick up what you forgot to get when you did the shopping for the week 3 days ago.

At least I forget to pick up these things..or..what's worse, walk right past the isle where the things are, still looking at the grocery list, and keep on going in the totally opposite direction. Drives me right up the WALL ~ !! ~ But at least I used coupons on the big shopping trip, so that saved me some $$ - this trip will be pretty low cost, as all the things on noahs list (5 total) are all on sale.

Nickle - dime - stuff that has to be bought..or else The Wrath of The Other People in The House decends on me, an' then I get a headache.

Or else I jus' walk away, go sit out on the deck and suddenly have a sudden attack of Not Being Able to Hear...

Work's like a charm!!

But for now -

I'm Gone>>>>>>>>>>>


Lady of The Tulips

"Untitled" - Spring Bay Studio 2010

Here's the piece that I just got finished - well, the other day...I had another mess of a time gettin' the frame to come out just the right color. I couldn't decide if it should be a darker "aged" look or not, so finally after scrubbing and blobbing and dabbing paint paint and more paint, I finally said "ENOUGH!!" an' slammed it in the frame.

But it does look pretty cool, huh?

I've got some sketches that are gettin' some various colors added to them this morning. Actually it's pretty amazing that I'm even able to think about color right now...Noah woke me up wayy before 7 this morning, 'cause he absolutely positively HAD TO go to the paint store (forget wall-mart or lowes...) an' buy a can of spray paint to repaint the stove pipe up on the roof. No, no, he doesn't want to spent $3.97 or whatever at the larger hardware store...NO! ...he wants to haul off and spent nearly $7.00 on ONE CAN of spray paint...But I did, at the same time, get to order some paint for me..and yes, I'm really wondering how much those 2 cans of paint are going to come to...

All I can say, is I darn well hope that the paint going up on the stove pipe sings, dances and does the hootchie-koo, 'cause it BETTER do something more than just sit there and look pretty. I have never EVAH paid that much for a can of spray paint. An' the phone will probably fall out of it's wall socket when The Husband hears what I paid for that thing...

Ok, so I'm a cheapskate...but I MEAN, come ON now!! ~ SEVEN dollars for spray paint?? -

Well, the good thing is that it is made for high heat purposes, and does keep rust from happening on a surface that not only gets rain, wind and ice/snow on it, but the heat from the woodstove does a number on any pipes that are made for woodstoves. So, yes, it IS probably worth the extra cost...

But it's just not something that I was quite ready for.

BUT ~ ! ~ I am ready for showin' some of the work that I'm getting done on my latest piece...got some lettering done, and have some flowers that are kinda spiffy. Just hope that once their all put together that they look good. Sometimes it's hard to see what the final product will look like..then The Critic jumps out of the bushes in the front of the house an' screams "You think THAT looks good??! ~ Are you NUTZZ??"

So it's a never ending battle to create something that flows, that makes you want to go swimming in warm tropical waters, and not have to face something like a cranky mother-in-law on the shore...

So it's off to the work table..I'm also realizing that I most definetly need a cup of coffee..I didn't even get to finish my first, when Noah started pacing around the dining room.."patiently" waiting for me to finish my breakfast...

I'm tellin' ya, it's never a dull moment aroun' here..an' don' get me goin' on the ol' guy that was screaming around a corner, down a little bridge over one of the creeks, and driving IN MY LANE at the same time....an' there I am comin' in the opposite direction, right head-on toward this guy...

I guess I better check my automobile insurance policy, huh?

I'm Gone...........


Lady of The Tulips

So, while the first couple dayz of the Bluegrass festival went really great, as far as the weather goes, then it just hauled off and turned completely upside down...

The picture shows just how far down the ____ everything turned...Saturday got worse, rain and wind..then more wind..but we stuck it out while people with motor homes with HEATERS INSIDE TO KEEP THEM WARM were bailing out of that campground like there was no tomorrow. We, who have No Heat in the Bus, stayed for all of the remaining concerts Sat. nite, and the picture is what the site looked like early on Sunday morning.

Plus is was colder than Saturday. We packed up the Bus, said goodbye to all the Fish in the pond, and made our way home. The route we took back here was the one I originally told tom to use, and we made it back here in less time that I want to think about..compared with the 5 hours that it took with the "short cut"...

Oh anyway..we got back here to some more sunshine, but the WIND ~ !!! ~ I kept feeling like at any minute we'd be upside down with the Wheels sticking up from the edge of the ditch. But Tom, being that he has to drive thru bad weather a lot of the time, was able to keep the Bus on the road..we didn't run off an' go ka-plooey into some poor guys wheat field..

An' now we're just sittin' back thinkin' about the next festival to go to - Gotts to save up some $$, but not as much as this first one.

And on a lighter note, tomorrow I'll post my just finished frame & piece..both are looking none to shabby, even if I don't mind saying so.

And there is some sketches I'll try and remember to post here as well - A bit differnt, but close to some work I did not too long ago. Fun, breezy an' jus' right now that Spring is finally trying to make itself at home.

Or shall I say, considering sticking around..as today we have strong winds an' it's 62 outside. BUT IT SHALL WARM UP ~ !! ~ Around here it's supossed to be up near 85 by the weekend...I'm tellin' ya, there's no tellin' what to expect with the Weather.

That's why it's better for me to say what the Art will be like, rather than the messin' around that the Weather People do day to day.

And they get PAID for it ~ ! ~

What am I doin' wrong? - Oh, heh heh,,yeah, I can't do math, an' Weather Predicting takes a WHOLE lotta that stuff...

Would it work If I took a flag outside to say that it might get windy?...uhmm...no, huh?

Fine.

Be that way......

I'll just go an' get a cold one an' tha's that.

Besides - I got some blue watercolor pencils that I wanna play with - Weeeeeee............


Lady of The Tulips

So look what we hauled off and did~ ! ~ We went up to a campground that has bluegrass festivals - since I was last there the place has grown 3 times what it used to be, in something like 7 years!! ~ We bought tickets not that long ago, and early on Wednesday morning, we finished packin' up the Bus, and headed out to the festival - The music started on Thursday afternoon, but on Wednesday night there was a big "Bean Pot" - covered dish dinner, so we made sure to get to the campground in time to have some free food!! ~ It was Deeeelishouuuusss!!!

We got this site, because we don't have a motor home (are you aware that those big things cost somewhere around $75,000 to START??!!) or travel trailer, so we got a "rough camping" site, and since we got there early, we had our choice of this site next to the pond (stocked with fish) or another site near where me & noah & Gabriel camped when the place had their first bluegrass festival - I did not even KNOW this part of the park existed, 'cause it was all covered in woods. Since '02 the owner has cleared, put in sites, and cleaned the place up - and we were given this spot!!! ~ WOW ~ ! ~ I told people who walked by while they were hiking around the pond, "This is the only way I could afford water front property!!" -

Wednesday was rainy, an' we took our time gettin there...Tom took a "short cut" - an' a trip that should have taken 3 hrs MAX...took 5 - the route went thru 3 cities, and every da%^&^$& blasted STUIPED stop light - WE HAD TO STOP!!! ~ I don' think there was one $#^^&"%") light that didn't turn red when we got up to it...then when we stopped so we could stretch our legs at a truck stop near the highway we needed to use to get to the campground...my foot accidently snagged on the cord for Tom's phone charger, and the cord got ripped off from it's plug...we got to the campground, and the shelter we bought to keep us dry in case it rained...didn't come with directions...

It didn't look too good at the beginning....

But look at how it turned out!! ~ Thursday and Friday were wonderful - great music, and we used a cheapy bbq grill ($7.00) to cook our meals on, with firewood we brought from here...that worked out GREAT!! ~ Yummmy dinners with mushrooms, onions, homestyle potatoes and some sliced ham...Chicken just browned with onions...OH I'm tellin you!! ~ WE had us a TIME!!

So we drove home on the route I'd originally TOLD TOM TO USE (no, I'm not mad..just sayin'...) and we got back down here yesterday in wayyy less time than it took to get up there...an' the rain of Sat., Sat. nite and most of yesterday morning had all gone away, an' we had a good trip back. Well worth all the nightmare weird things that happened on Wednesday.

And the Bus ran like a dream~ !! ~ People really looked at the Bus..a lot of people didn't know what to think...an' some just acted like they didn't wanna see it..oh well, that's THEIR problem. All I know is for the first time in nearly 7 years, we had a vacation!! ~ Boy Howdy, an' it was a good time.


But now the mundane world is ready to slam me upside the head..so I gotta start the business of making phone calls..paying bills...blahhckk....


But what about that Bus?? ~ ! ~

I'm Gone .............


Lady of The Tulips

Today I'm thinkin' that it's a good day to just sit and do absolutely nothing - I mean, like truly do absolutely nothing.

Just take the day as it comes, look at the growth in the woods, listen to the wild birds surrounding us, and take in all that we're blessed to have.

Tom has some days off, so that is something that hasn't happened in over 2 years..an' even tho the days off were supossed to be his "vacation", it was spent moving us to the little cabin in the woods.

But now we're thinkin' on goin' to listen to some bluegrass music, sit around and laugh at funny things that we see...hear sounds that are new to us...an' generally take time to absorb what we have....which is time between us.

Something that has been neglected for far too long.

So, with the bluebirds singing in the pine trees out in the front of the cabin, and the mockingbird making sure everybody within hearing distance is aware he is HERE...we are going to go do something...but I'll tell ya about it later.......


Lady of The Tulips

Here's the picture of the side "yard" - and the wild dogwood tree that just takes my breath away -


The thing that I like about it the most, is the fact that it just stands out when in bloom, giving a breath of fresh air to all the green surrounding it. I was so thrilled when we bought the little cabin, and made the discovery of that wild tree. Plus some of the wildflowers that are growing along the base of the dogwood and some of the other hardwoods. Just wish the bloom time of the flowers was longer, but ya can't have everything........


I've got a canvas that is starting to take shape, and even tho I shouldn't have, I hauled off and bought a bumper sticker for the Bus - I think it's very appropriate for me AND the Bus -


Got if from Junk Gypsy's - "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" -

Tom's probably going to bellyache about it, but LISTEN buddy - tha's pretty much how I view things - not well behaved one iota,an' by this stage in the game, it's probably a lost cause tellin' me I gotta BEHAVE -


Maybe it's like lookin' in the mirror an' sayin',

"Well, now, you DO have to come to grips with things, and grow up..."


Fat Chance. An' who wants to be all grown up and Tidy, neat an' Proper..

I think I tried one time, but I got a headache, so I went outside an' had a cold one...


LAWDY - don' tell my sunday school teacher I said that..........


But for now I gotta check on some painted papers an' make sure that some sketches are ready for some ink..

I'm gettin' there slooooooowly but surely ~ ! ~


I'm Gone


Lady of The Tulips

Spring has indeed come along and made it's presence known along the shore - I am so amazed that the plants have taken off the way they have - a week ago there was hardly one bloom that had opened up - and within less than 7 days, they all have decided to pop open. The dogwood tree along the front of the road is just as wonderful as ever - the first year we were here, it didn't bloom this much - Guessing that with all the winter and early spring rains, the roots have been more than soaked, and the tree has responded right along.

The other picture that is worth mentioning, is the one where the Bus is peeking thru the plants - if you can tell, we have a wonderful collection of irises - the previous owner had a relative who worked with some nursery, so he was able to get plants that were either not sold, or were somehow "wrong" - and brought them to the owners - this spring has really shown just how those plants like to spread out - I've had several thru the years, but none of them spread like these have - I made sure last summer to water them really well while soaking the annuals I had planted around them - So the soil moisture has made them super happy from all the winter rains - and now they are making themselves at home. I just don't understand how they didn't spread this much before now...tha's one of those Botany questions I probably missed while taking the class in college...Ooops................

I'm feeling better today - Tom tho, nearly set me off when he called and asked.."Can you do something for me?" - I answered like I was kinda scared...
"Uhmm..sure..what? - Or should I ask?" -

"Could you bring the Dog back for me? - I miss her, an' I wanna see her when I come home from work today..."

Nearly went into a total crying jag again.

But I got thru it well enuf, an' decided that maybe the thing to do is plant a tree in her honor...My sweet friend Darcy had made that suggestion to me last week, and now with all the trees popping out with flowers, leaves and whatever, I'm thinking that a nice fragrant lilac tree would fit the bill. We have several spots where there needs to be something, so one of those would fill in nicely.

Thank you Darcy, for that sweet suggestion. Now I will look an' see which type I need to plant.

An' tomorrow I'll post the picture of the wild Dogwood tree along the back of our property - along with some pictures of wildflowers that have some HUGE flowers on them. I'm not sure of the name of them..but they bloom like crazy, spread all over the place, and make the area around the sheds nearly look tropical...most interesting.

But for now I'm off to do a new sketch..I'm slooooowlyyy gettin' back to my Art..jus' takin' it one day at a time, donchya know???


Lady of The Tulips

> http://bloginterviewer.com/music/lady-of-the-tulips-lauri-perry ~~ Ah Ha ~ !! ~

Here's the link for ya'll - see what ya think, 'k?

I'm Gone.............


Lady of The Tulips

>>A quick - again - post with something else
>> >> I recently posted an interview with BlogInterviewer.com, and would certainly appreciate it if ya'll would give me a little vote. It'd be nice.

I'm having difficulties with my letter's - font, yeah, that's what it's called - today. I set up one type of font, an' now look at it - went an' hauled off an' shrank on me........what's a person to do?

I'm gettin' better these days - Not breaking out into hysterical crying jags like I was last week. But the sadness is still surrounding me...Tom is trying to get thru his own sadness with Sara's passing away - He's just not saying too much about it right now.

Guess we all just do what we gotta do .................

Tha's it for now - I'm going to go watch a baseball game on the satellite right now - not sure if I'll stick with one game, or switch back & forth with 2 games...decisions, decisions...it's tough being a baseball fan.............


I'm Gone ~~


Lady of The Tulips

>> Just a quick post, as I'm just not able right now to concentrate much - I still find myself just bursting into tears at the least little thing, an' can't remember what I'm doing if I start more than 2 things at a time <<

We've had rain, and now the trees are finally able to come out with their leaves in full glory - it's cool now - we'd been up in the 80's most of the week - but it's something like 65 or so now..a shock to the system that wanted Summer to be here.

I'm trying to get some painting done on some watercolor paper, but haven't gotten much done ~ I'm finishing up some final tidbits for the Bus - beads, ribbons and a new pillow for the back of the Bus ~

But for now I gotta go ~ Maybe after the start of the week I'll be able to do somemore, but for now tha's all ..........



Lady of The Tulips

>> Rest in Peace, my Dear Little Angel ~ God has you now, and you won't hurt anymore. I love you more then words can say, and my heart is truly broken. May God hold you in His big Backyard, where you can play and have fun till we meet again. <<


Sara Beth - 1999 (?) - 2010


Lady of The Tulips

>> Just a quick message here, to wish everybody out there a Very Happy Easter ~ !! ~ <<

We're having family - well, our one son is definetly coming down from the city, an' the other may - not sure yet...

But anyway we'll be having a nice quiet day - Got the fixin's for Homemade Baked Beans - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese..rice, and best-est of all - the one son is buying the Ham!! ~ Le's hear a Whoo - Hoo ~~ !! ~~ on that one !!

I just got some ironing done on my dress for tomorrow morning, an' now I gotta get some reading done for Sunday School ~ NO! ~ I didn't wait till the last minute..just wanna get the last 2 parts read so I won't feel left out in the far right field..as it were...

Must go ~ ! ~ Happy Weekend Everyone!!

I'm gone..........


Lady of The Tulips

An' then ~ I was so all fired up about posting about those dumb frames, I totally forgot to show the little mermaid that I got done!!


"Untitled" - 2010 - Spring Bay Studio


She is a little funny thing, but at least it seems like she's havin' a good time...which reminds me - I gotta run - I need to get to the grocery store an' get the week's worth of groceries before Somebody Else in the House throws a total hissy-fit an' calls in the Authorities to say that the Parental Unit is Not Behaving as Is Required.


Or something like that.........


Lady of The Tulips

Ok, so it may look weird - all these pictures of frames - but let me explain...I bought these when Tom & I had made one of those trips up to the city, which is always a treat in itself...and then when I realized that one of my newest mermaids needed a frame, well, I dug around in the closet and found these!! I totally spaced out and forgot where I'd put these, but lo and behold, there they were, still in their packaging (is that spelled right..?) and waiting for something to happen to them.

THIS time, instead of working for days and days to distress the wood frame, by doing more work than was really necessary, I ALSO remembered that I'd bought some of Tim Holtz's distress ink, and by using that - probably not in the "right" way that the company sez to use it, but ANYWAY - I used that, did some clever Other Things, and voila!! ~ Got one good distressed frame!

I started to show both of them, each on it's own, but I'm not sure it it's so easy to see the difference between the new and distressed frame. So I plopped them next to each other so you can see the difference a little better. AND this time I didn't work myself to pieces - Oh sure, I got angry, frustrated and all-together-irritated with how the work was going, and wasn't too sure if I was even going to KEEP the frame, after some alarming things happened...like different paints having alltogether odd-ball reactions to each other...bleeding colors..fading and streaking of paints...oh, OH the AGONY of it all....

But I finally said, "Oh just cram it $^&* and THEN ^%^*&$"&" SO THERE"....

And said it's done. And not a minute too soon.
Cause this weekend is Easter weekend, and out of the blue, naturally (I guess this is what husbands are for? To irritate the livin' #% outta the Wife?? -) Tom calls to say,

"What are we doin' for Easter? I was thinkin' of havin' a couple-a things for dinner..an' ya think you could call Danny and see what he wants to do, oh, an' see too if there is somewhere you can find just the right size ham for the dinner, an' I might want to have some of those pineapple things....oh, whatta they called???"..................

Right when I was so totally in the middle of working on the last of the distressing of the frame..so you know KNOW how much I wanted to have this sort of BLASTING interuption...

OH SHUT UP about all those new grey hairs on my head...these don't come easy, ya know??

So, right when I was all set to really get into the next project in my head, NOOOOO, I gotta go an' start makin' up all kind-sa lists an' stuff for groceries.then figure out just how much of everything I need to make, 'cause after all, the other son may show up too, an' bring his new girlfriend..an' what do THEY want to have...

All this.........

An' all I wanna do is play with my paints - an' mess with some texture STUFF again - an' do some squiggly lines an' mess around with some more of my fibers, which by the way, I have totally TOTALLY fallen in love with all over OVAH again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

but nooooooooooo

I gotta go an' figure out how to get this big-ol' dinner THANG goin' again.

Don' get me wrong - I love love Easter, and the wonder and marvel of it all..it's just the whole Dinner and Fixin's and STUFF that absolutely drive me to the BRINK..

But I'll be fine..truly I will.

Or else my next post will be from the florida keys somewhere...an' by my stars, I WILL have one of those clever teeny drinks in my hand, with those spiffy little umbrellas stuck in the drink, with little swizzle sticks in it an' EVERYTHING ~~~

Jus' watch me......


Lady of The Tulips