YAHOO!! And can we hear it again!! YAHOO!!!

There has been a delay on the posting of this blog due to some unforseen circumstances beyound my absolute control -- that is -- this old computer has been giving me fits, spits, ulcers and other assorted things that I wont go into here ---- suffice to say that today is the first day that I've been able to get back HERE!!

I've been working away on lots of little projects -- and probably will be able to post them tomorrow. I've gotten my frames all done, and am hoping that the weather will cooperate enuf so that when I take some pictures of them, the sunlight will show some of the detail I've made on each of them. I've gotten so sick of painting little pieces of tissue to adhere to the wood of the frames, that I started to question my sanity. I mean, I know I'm sorta cracked, but after tearing pieces that were sometimes less than 1/4" in size, and tearing LOTS of them, I really sat at my little table and wondered if this was the best thing that I could be doing. Time consuming, sure, but the overall effect was well worth it. I may even make a couple more using the same method but I have to take a break from all the little scraps and give 'er a rest.

We've gotten our vege seeds in the mail, and now that the weather is finally cooperating, I've started lots of little pots of seeds...3 pots each of 3 different varieties. I've gotten away from using slicing tomatoes for paste and salsa, and have only used paste tomatoes for the last couple years. We grew so many 2 years ago, that the freezer has been stocked ever since. And just this last week, my youngest said we're finally down to the last 6 quart bags of frozen tomatoes. So, my planting was done in the nick of time. Roma has always done really well here, and I've got those in little pots. Speckled Roman tomato is one that I'm going to try this year, and I've had success with Banana Legs too, so those are all comfy in their little pots. I found some good prices thru Pinetree Garden Seeds for a long time, and bought some Basil, Oregano and Chives seeds this year too. I had some hollyhocks in the garden a couple years ago, but they finally died out, which made me sad. So this year, I got some more of those, and a packet of Monets Sunflowers. They did really good in one of our flower beds along a big fence last year, and after The Husband staked them up after a tropical storm tried to knock them down, they bloomed EVEN MORE!! So those are going in the front yard this year, and along the backyard fence again -- kinda hides the thing so it doesn't look so ugly.

I got some little signs made up for the vege beds and the flower beds this year too -- I am ALWAYS forgetting what seeds I plant in different beds every year...no matter how hard I try, I meander out in the garden, pop the plants out of their little pots, (where the label clearly says what each one is) get 'em in the ground, and promptly forget which plant is which. The only way I can tell the tomatoes from one another, is once they start to develop the actual "Fruit" ~~ then I know. But in the meantime, I'm as lost as can be. It drives my youngest to absolute fits with me -- "You can't remember what you have out there??!!" "Uhhh...well, actually...uhhh..." Makes me feel like an absolute toad...and speaking of toads -- We've had a REALLY large toad living in the front flower beds for years ~~ Every now and again I'll see him and it sorta freaks me out...this big ol' brown creature popping up outta the mud...but I had an even bigger Suprise the other day while weeding the bed for the St. John Wort...got to pulling some clover out (Which got put right back down for mulch) and was setting some dried leaves back in the bed, when something got flipped around in the air with the leaves, then plopped back down in the middle of them. I took a second look to see what it was, and at first all it looked like was some sort of maybe large coin...sorta grey/brown, round with little bits of yellow edging. WELL -- I came to an absolute STOP right then, and veryy gingerly picked up whatever this little thing was. And lo and behold -- it was a baby TURTLE!!! OH! my Stars and Garters!! It was the cutiest little thing I've seen in a long long time. I turned him (HER??) around in my fingers, and it stared at me and actually blinked it's eyes at me. That made me feel terrible, like I disturbed it's routine or something (Do turtles have a routine?) So I very carefully laid him (her) back in amongst the leaves, and ran in the house to tell my youngest.

Ever get a look from somebody like, well, maybe you've had too much to drink, but in actuality you're absolutely stone sober? That's how I felt when I started to tell my son that there was a baby turtle in the flower bed. There was this...SIGH...then he came outside to see for sure that I wasn't making this story up. HA!! Wasn't HE suprised when he saw the little critter too!! An me being me, I'm gushing all about this little thing, walking thru the leaves at their SLOW pace.."AHhh...LOOK!! at his little tail!!" I'm nearly yelling....The youngest wasn't all that impressed and went back in the house to check some prices on baseball cards...humph....shows what kind of wild animal lover he is....NO -- he really does love things in the yard, but he just wasn't all that excited about the turtle. Maybe this just shows that perhaps I need to get a life or something....

Well -- it's off to the art store to get some more poster board and a sheet of mat board too....I've got to get some paper painted this afternoon before driving over to the truck terminal to get The Husband...he's got his truck back after it needed some work done on it...the alternater (sp) was trying to burn itself to pieces 2 weeks ago, while The Husband was sitting in traffic, so the dispatcher decided to give him another truck in the meantime...I'm too chicken to ask how much it cost to make the repairs...actually I'm glad I DIDN'T have to pay for it!!

Lady of The Tulips -- who has The Dog laying next to her on the floor..we had a little rainstorm and she naturally came in here to hide..if she was snoring any louder I think my youngest could hear her in the front room....sheesh...

You may be thinking that The Dog is listening for the Easter Bunny to come thru one of the windows to the Studio/Sunroom, but in actuality (glad I wasn't an English major in college with that spelling...) she was listening to the wind that has suddenly picked up outside. She has this thing about the wind..and even worse, if there happens to be a storm brewing. When wind is combined with rain, and Especially THUNDER -- this animal turns into an absolute WRECK. I've always written it off to the fact, that she was a Rescue Shelter animal; she'd been horribly abused at the "home" she was taken from...so anything that sounds extremely loud sends her into fits. If a dog could cry, I've always felt that she would have an hysterical crying jag every time there's a thunderstorm. She will go to any length to crawl into a closet and hide; barring that she'll crawl under my son's computer desk and squish herself under the computer slide-out shelf. Actually, that's where she is right now...she quit shaking, but I can feel her warm body right next to my right foot.

I know some people have wanted me to get a picture of her on my Blog -- so here she is. She is a very sweet dog...spoiled rotten and has The Husband totally wrapped around her little (or not so) paw. She has HIM trained, so that the minute he walks in either the front or back door, she immediately jumps to the edge of the kitchen floor, gives him this absolutely PITY - PITY POOR ME look and naturally he falls all over himself, and promptly gives her a dog biscuit. She then gladly waltzes away with said biscuit in her mouth, eats the thing in less that 2 minutes, lays down on the floor and looks at The Husband as if to say, "You're such a wimp over me.." And, yes, he admits that he is a wimp as far as she's concerned. She is really a trip. What's really funny is to see her romp around in the back yard..she'll run around the pool and get herself around the edge of the backyard fence REALLY fast...how she does it really confuses me. I mean, she isn't the smallest animal I've seen, yet she's able to zip around out there like she's in training for some sort of Animal Olympics. I have actually seen her run to come in the house when I call her. But that's only when she's been outside for most of the day, and she really wants to come in the house. Amazing I tell ya.

Lady of The Tulips ~~ who is now so comfortable with The Dog keeping my feet warm that I don't wanna move...but have to go out in the Studio to get some paper's cut for a collage I'm starting on. ** OH!! ** And I do want to wish all of you out there a Very Happy Easter!! Maybe what The Dog heard really WAS the Easter Bunny...how would I know if it was or not?

"Le Mer" -- Copyright 2006 Spring Bay Studio

This is one of the pieces I got finished just before the crush of the holidays last year...I'd been looking at some pictures of mermaids that some artists had done way back in 1918 or so. I was amazed by some of the oils and watercolors that I saw in a book that my middle son was given a few years ago...this isn't anywhere close to how wonderful the paintings are in the book, but I felt the freedom that the mermaids looked like they had in those paintings.

I'm trying to get a picture of the frame I just finished painting the other day, and have this piece set very carefully in said frame...but I keep having problems either with the camera, getting the frame to behave itself with some hot glue I used to attach the glass...or else some little teeny bit of paint gets chipped, and it's back to the fine liner brush to spot paint the chips. My nerves are getting the stretched-thin-treatment and it looks like I'm either going to go scream at The Dog innocently laying down in the grass next to the backyard fence, or I'm gonna take it out on some poor soul who calls the house trying to sell me some type of magazine subscription...never mind that I'm on the Federal Do Not Call list...

It's a Holiday today, for some people who have "regular" jobs with a salary and parking space set aside especially for them. However, in this house The Husband doesn't have a salary, but an hourly wage, in a job that doesn't care 2 cents about holidays . There's freight to be moved, never mind that the highways are getting PACKED with people going somewhere to relax an' have a good time. What it'd be like to go on vacation is something I've been pondering for a few years...and The Husband is sitting in traffic trying to move 75,000 pounds of "Freight All Kinds" no more than 4 miles down the Interstate. I'd love to know what the people sitting in traffic are thinking while their on their way to Relax and Have A Good Time...probably cussing the truck drivers who can't get out of their OWN way, let alone get up enuf speed to get out of the way of a speeding car. But -- for those of you with Vacation time...WOW!! I'd love to be out relaxing an' layin' around some place...Definetly would be something literally out of the ordinary!! So -- have a good time...take lots of pictures of where ever it is that you've picked to relax at/in. Don't get too sunburnt (for those going to warmer climates!) and don't come back with stories that you can't really explain all the details about...cause those WILL come back an' haunt ya!!

The Dog is absolutely amazed -- in her own way -- I cleaned out the Studio/Sunroom the last 2 days. I'd been dancing around some big storage boxes that my youngest had set near the french doors. He kept insisting "I'll get them up in the Attic..." but there they sat..taking up space and making it clever for me to hop around. It got pretty dicey when The Dog wanted to go outside, cause I'd have to sorta hop/jump around the boxes, make sure The Dog didn't knock anything off the top of said boxes (stacks of seed catalogs, books with no home to go to...that kind of thing) and then get to the back/side door an open it FAST when The Dog had to go out NOW...

I got 4 or 5 large trash bags full of old childrens books..some old college text books I haven't had the heart to throw away yet, and some old cow figurienes (butchered that spelling, didn't I...no pun intended after cow, by the way...) that I'd had for over 15 years...got em all packed up and now are sitting at the end of the hallway in the house, where The Huband sez he'll get set up in the attic. This remains to be seen, as he's also said he'll "Get to " some other things around the house that I've been waiting on for, oh, le's see...6 years...So -- this will be interesting to see. The large storage boxes that held some old books that just wouldn't fit on the bookshelf in the studio are so HEAVY that I thot I'd literally fall over when I tried to get them up into the dining room, drag them down the hall, and set at the end of said hall, right against the interior wall. I started to push/shove one of the boxes and realized the reason the thing wasn't moving was because it'd gotten hung-up on some carpet in the dining room that has never been attached to it's backing correctly...so there's always been this little "bump" between the front room and dining room. I'd always ignored it, thinking it'd just be THERE an' wouldn't bother me. UNTIL one of those days when I knew I'd have something to move across it. And wouldn't ya know it -- THAT DAY HIT YESTERDAY!!

I could feel the blood veins in my forehead starting to pop out, and it felt like my legs were gonna start shaking, I was tryin' so hard to move this stuiped box. Then I got stood up straight, took a look at the problem, an' said out loud, "WELL What The *** is THIS??!" Made The Dog look up from where she was lying down in the front room. Naturally I had to appoligize to her for that bit of rudeness...But -- all the boxes are now sitting at the end of the hall..all lined up like their waiting for a bus to take them somewhere. My back suprisingly isn't sore, an' when I thot my legs were gonna be REALLY in pain this morning, I was pleasantly suprised to find they were just fine. YAHHOOO and YIPPIEEE....Guess all the daily workouts have come in handy; haven't got the OH-OH I Did too Much thing goin' on.

So -- when the camera decides to get it's #"@ together, I'll take a couple shots of the wall of books an' all the other lil' goodies that are sitting on the bookshelf. it's starting to look less like the inside of a 3rd grade classroom, an' more like a Studio than it ever has. Sigh. Now for some pictures on those walls, an' I'll be in Business!!

Lady of The Tulips -- who just now realized she's got the front door open, an' even tho the storm door is closed, there's enuf gap in the doorframe that lets in the chilly afternoon air...an' now the heater/furnace is running to beat the band. Are those little dollar bills I see drifting down the hallway, or is it my imagination??

~~~ First of all ~~~ I must apologize for the post last week, because of the LOUSY way the picture came out after I downloaded it. Coulda fooled me. I thot that once my son had gotten it into my folder of pictures, that it would come out wonderful and clear once I popped it up on this blog...when you click on the larger image tho, it REALLY looked like somebody did something extremely Weird, an' it's all fuzzy. Kinda like if I try to look at somethin' without my glasses on...So -- please forgive the fuszzy-ness of the closeup of that picture. When my son comes back I'll ask him what the deal is with it.

I've got 2 more frames painted an' all ready to go. I was gonna take a while today to take shots of them so I could post 'em here, but in 'bout 15 minutes, I (just recently, after drivin' all over creation an' back already this a.m.) I gotta take my youngest to get a pass so he can start a new job at one of the local shipyards...he finally got one of the jobs he'd applied for in the last couple weeks. I think I'd mentioned how he'd appied to a few places, but there hadn't been any replies on one of them. He plugged along, an' got to check in with one of the employment agencies he's worked with before, an' lo & behold, they had a position available. It's on the bus route, but naturally the busses don't run as early as he needs to get a ride in the morning, so ME gets to get up at 4:00 to get him to the office for the company at 5:45...then they have a van to take the crew to the shipyard. This afternoon tho, I have to take him to some OTHER office so he can get a pass that'll allow him to get into the Yard, so he can work...I'm sorta tired from the 3 1/2 hours out drivin' around already, an it'll probably be another 3 before it's all said an' done. An' here I thot I'd get some more work done on a piece today...HA!! Shows what I get for thinkin' --

So -- one of the local art stores has frames on sale, so when I get a chance this week, I'll go an' pick up 3 or 4 of them...then it's off to the races with the paint brushes an' whatever else may be in my line of fire...or is it whatever is closest for me to grab an' slap on the wood?? Either way, it's gonna be fun to make up some more frames. I just CANT let a frame be Plain and BORING...Must have some Color an' LIFE to it... man - o - man. Dull is just not where it is... More fun color is what I like...maybe one of the new ones will have purple on it...well...maybe not...

Must run an' pretend that I'm excited 'bout driving around for the next 3 hours...can any of you see the grey hair popping up on my head? Oh -- an' that little cloud of smoke you may see off in the distance is just part of my brain frying because of the irritation I'm feeling from all the speeding crazy drivers...do not let the smoke bother you...it will dissapate shortly...

Lady of The Tulips -- who is now wondering if she has any change for putting gas in the car...I did have $5 but that seems to have disappeared, an besides, it won't get me too far down the road anyway...

"Untitled" Spring Bay Studio -- 2005

I'd been thinking of this piece the last couple days...there's been a whole lot of stuff happening 'roun' here, some of it good (Art Stuff) but a lot of it has been dragging me thru the mill, Hell, an' lots of other places. So -- this lil' face seemed to be in my mind, something of a peaceful spot amidst all the turmoil. Family stuff, an' lots of DRAMA with capitals not even beginning to touch the depth of happenings. Le's jus' say that it's a good thing I gave up on Gin way back in the day...I shudder to think of what I'd do with it now.

The Art stuff is jus' a shade from being completed...I'm excited about it..an' naturally want to grab all of the things that are nearly done, but know that the minute I touch any of it, it'll get ruined. All of them are drying with the last coat of varnish, so it's naturally making me want to touch an' see --- "AREN'T YOU DRY YET??!!" -- The Dog jus' pokes her head up from whereever she happens to be laying at the moment, an' gives me this "Whaa??" kinda look. There are dayz that I am one happy lil' person that she can't talk. Expecially when The Husband has hauled off an' spouted off something stuiped...OOPS !! Did I say that? Well, he usually is the first to admit that he said something off the wall..but STILL -- Hmm...where was I? OH!! -- The Dog will jus' look at me if I'm trying to have a conversation with one of my pieces on the table, but she must be used to my muttering, because she doesn't seem to mind.

I've gotten the bug to go off an explore some of the neighborhood yard sales...with a lot of the seniors moving out of their homes (some have been the original owners from the early '50's) an' selling off all that STUFF in the attic, I'm REALLY tempted to go an' grab what ever my lil' hands can stuff in a bag. But, since I also have these things called Utilities, they probably need to be taken care of first...then find the yard sale stuff later. It's sorta sad to see some of the neighbors go -- the other thing that REALLY sucks, is some family members have gone the "quick" route of selling the homes to Contractors, who in 3 days, come back to the house after the sale, start ripping the place apart, remodel the entire thing to appeal to high-end buyers, an' sell for outrageous prices. The house across the street had that happen, an' even tho the young family is quite nice, the Contractor was one of the most arrogant, boastful $"^%_{#&_^+&| I've met in some time...he had this grand idea of selling the place at over $45,000 more than the value of the place....his lil' bubble was quite burst when it sold for less than $200,000. Greed always comes back an' bites when you least expect it...

So -- I'm sad to see some of the folks leave. But that's one of those things. One of my neighbors is 86 an' still drives everywhere..is super busy with lots of public service things. She nearly wears me out. An' she walks up an' down the street nearly every day. Puts some of us (ok, ok -- I don't do walking, but at least I do exercise for 1/2 Hr/ to 45 min. every day) to shame. I know she's thinking about sellin' her place an' movin' back to Georgia..we'd discussed it a little over a year ago. She may stay...

So -- the quandry is to not go overboard on the sales...not fill up what space I have out in the studio with lots more stuff...But at the same time have treasures that'll go really well with my work. It's drivin' me nearly over the edge, I'm tellin' ya!! What to do, what to do...

Lady of The Tulips -- who is nearly standing over her tulip beds tapping her foot waiting, now, IMPATIENTLY for the tulips to start popping up out of the ground. The daffodils are goin' overtime with their blooming, but the Tulips are either waiting for a bus ticket to Omaha or something else hat I probably do NOT want to know...

*** Well I am very sad to say, that with all my best intentions, I never did find any of my food coloring for St. Patty's Day...I didn't exactly sit down an' cry, but I realized that I'd just have to have my beer "regular" instead of Green...an' lets face it, it's better than nothin'...

I've been painting a frame that just made it's way into my lil' studio the other day...I was absolutely a wreck tryin' to decide whether or not to go ahead an' paint it. I mean, the voice of "You're gonna screw it UP!!" was workin' overtime in the back of my head -- I MEAN -- it was jus' about to make me ill. So, I finally took the plastic wrap off the frame, an went to work. It's gonna get posted on here probably tomorrow, 'cause right now it's dryin' out in the studio. I slapped gesso on it, then painted a spiffy pale blue with lil' lines that resemble waves. Had so much fun with it, I was almost sad that I got it finished!! But, Not To Fear!! -- I picked up a couple other ones, so that'll keep me busy for the rest of the week. Once they finished dryin' then some of my pieces will finally have some nice new homes. I don' want them to feel like they've been left out in the cold...

An' speakin' of cold -- I think I'd mentioned that we dropped a bundle not too terribly long ago on our furnace. The entire idea behind the work, was to get the blasted thing to run the way it was designed to run -- an' it was anything BUT running the way it was suppossed to...we had these horrendous gas & elec. bills during the winter...more than I care to say...well...I will...over $150 for a month of heating!! SO -- with the maintenance guy tellin' me that with the most recent visit, "Your furnace will be runnin' like it's suppossed to!" -- I was naturally skeptical. Well Yahoo an' La-Dee-Dah!!! -- we jus' got the recent elec. bill, and it DROPPED $50!! It's still high, but it's gettin' back to where it should be. -- Now just as long as the winter makes up it's mind to pack 'er up an LEAVE, we'll be doin' allright. Now watch, now that I've said that it'll be 32 degrees tomorrow...sigh..

Have to make this short..well, sortta short -- got to go check the paint an' see what The Dog is up to -- she got herself all worked up last night 'cause The Youngest sprayed her all over with flea spray...you'd a thot she'd been given some sort of shot for nahsty attutide...she was MIFFED!! -- I mean, she ran herself all over the kitchen, the studio, the front room, dining room, into my youngest son's bedroom, all worked up an' acting like it was the end of the world...then she finally layed down in the front room, with her back to everybody else, an POUTED for over an hour -- wouldn't look at ANYBODY no matter how hard we tried to make her turn around an' look at us -- talk about a rotten spoiled brat...great day....it's was actually really funny, but we tried VERY hard not to laugh out loud. She kept starin' at us like we were absolute Scum - of - the - earth. Am I glad dogs can't talk...sheesh....

Lady of The Tulips -- who is now considerin' whether or not to get some paint to cover up a mess the middle one made on his walls...he painted all of his bedroom walls black....my nerves...

~~ Some good news on the home front ~~ An' it couldn't be any better than happening on St. Patricks Day!!

Recently I'd mentioned on here that The Husband had taken his DOT physical so he can remain a certified Truck Driver...the only problem with the test was that his blood presure was about to literally drop him dead on the street...he was given 3 months to have it straightened out by the Clinic where the physical was given. He'd also gone to out regular Dr. to get on some kind of medication to help...the tests for those came back good, so the Dr. said that the main thing was for him to do what every Doc sez...Loose Weight...Eat Healthy...Cut Sugar..blah, blah, blah...

Well ~~ we immediately got into WOAH mode, an went to a Herbal Shop to find something that one of the Longshoreman told The Husband to get that would lower his blood pressure, was organic, and cost only $20 for a bottle that would last over 2 months. We were all over it in a (no pun intended..) heartbeat. Found what's called Blood Pressure Drops -- their made up from Cayenne Pepper and some other herbs -- taste like the very devil, but by gosh and golly, those things have dropped his blood pressure enuf that he was certified to have his CDL for the next 2 years!!! Zippa-Dee-Doo-Dah!!! My oh My, what a WONDERFUL DAY!!!

The Husband has also been taking a combination of Hawthorne Caplets plus some other drops, the name of which escapes me at the moment ~~ But the main thing is that they work, were less than $50 and the cost savings was so much less than if we went the conventional route, with pharmacys, Dr. bills, etc., etc -- I'd known about some of these herbs for awhile, but it never really meant anything 'till we went to the Herb Shop an' the woman was wonderful with us -- pointed out what all would combine to work with another herb...that type of thing. Now the hardest part will be the losing of weight...he does work outside a LOT -- but the sitting inbetween changing out containers is whats the bad thing. He has started back in eating veges, which he'd gotten away from...Got into this THANG with eating hamburgers from the local drive-thru...I'd been tellin' him it'd come back an' bite him HARD...well, I didn't have to say TOLD YA SO...jus' the scary part of possibly losing his job was enuf to lay back on the junk food.

The attending clinic Dr. said that the herbal treatment is a good idea, an' since we've got zero insurance, I do not EVEN want to think of the cost of prescription meds...The Dr. said for The Husband to stay with what he's takin', since it seems to be working. To say we're relieved is putting it mildly...But how GREAT is it that the good news came on St. Patricks Day!! I can see my grandfather dancin' a jig now!!! -- Way up in the clouds!! --

Lady of The Tulips - who's still wonderin' where her green food coloring has gone...I just recently found one of my very best ever beer mugs, an' it'd be a CRIME not to have green beer today...now -- where is the box of food coloring??? sigh....

"His Calculations Were A Bit Off" Copyright 2005 Spring Bay Studio


I'd thought about this piece the other day while my middle son & I were driving down the street goin' somewhere -- I think to get him some odds an' ends at the music store...

We'd passed a car "parked" on the side of the highway...with both the front tires all lopsided from the rest of the car...front end smashed all to pieces...basically the car was abandoned. The first words out of my son's mouth were, "Looks Pretty Good!!" I naturally started laughing so hard I nearly cried. But then I told him it looked like something that would happen to one of our cars...jus' have the entire thing fall apart at the biggest intersection in the City....Whereas this particular vehicle was left on the side of the road an' nothing happening around it, I told my son that if that had happened to me, I'd probably be in jail wanted by the FBI, CIA, ABC, CBS -- you get the idea.

So after getting home an' goin' back to doin' the mundane things that are lurking around the house, this piece suddenly popped into my lil' head. I'd thot about some of those scientists who claim to have all these absolute methods on achieving some sort of "Discovery" --whether it be in space, mining for gold...whatever. Always with the most exacting methods known to mankind. Only, once in awhile they, uhh...jus' happen to fall short of the goal. Sort of like the car we saw on the road...sortta jus' stopped short of it's intended destination -- wherever that happened to have been.

I've also gotten about 3 pieces in the works -- little pieces compared to some of the other ones I've been making. I recently picked up a pack of those prefinished canvases, in the hope that I can corral the amount of work I put together, and get them onto something that will be a little easier to frame. I'm STILL working on getting 4 pieces framed for the shop over next to the Bay...I'm suppossed to call the owner by next week or so an' see what she has available in terms of space to hang some of my work...I'm REALLY excited about the possibilitiy of having my work Out THERE for people to see. My middle son thinks it's jus' too cool for me ot have this chance. Some of the local galleries don't carry something like what I do, an' I've lost track of the people who have told me, ~~ "We Ohhnly tahhke SERIOUHHS AHHHHRRTTT..." Jus' what the H*** that's suppossed to mean is any guess, but it seems to mean that they jus' want to keep some of their cronies happy by keeping the same-ol same-ol in their walls an' call it a day. Too bad for them ~~ There are probably some fantastic artists in the area that wouldgive their eye teeth for an opportunity to get their work out in the public view...but some snoot has this thing about keeping apparences (man, I really spelled that one lousy...) spiffy for her / his friends...Sad...

So ~~ It's off to the studio for now -- my youngest is now looking for another job...but the recent find for him -- in way of applying for a job --- does not entail ME driving all over creation to get him from point A to point B -- the newest interview will be over at the oceanfront, and it's ON THE BUS LINE!!! YAHOOO!! I MEAN -- LE'S HEAR IT AGAIN!!! YAHHHOOOO!!! I've ranted too many times on the Really bad drivers here, so any chance to have one of the son's get a job opportunity that's on the bus line is an absolute PLUS in my book! Now -- jus' as long as he get's the job we'll be doin' fine!! The job he's had for the past few weeks has only been payin' him (get this...) $6.00 an hour --- working in a warehouse loading trucks with freight for Wal Mart....I guess the lousy pay goes along with their slogan -- "Always the Lowest Price...Always!" Goes for workers pay, looks like....sigh...

Lady of The Tulips ~~ Who has to decide whether or not to paint a frame a pale, pale blue, or go with White like all the other "Beach" frames she's been seein' at local Surf, Beach an' "Stuff" shops....Which oh which shall I use?? ~~

~~ Shame ~~ Shame ~~ Shame ~~ Everybody knows yer name...

Well...tha's one of the sayings that I often heard when trying to explain away some event that I'd somehow over looked, or blew off -- or jus' flat out forgot...

It isn't that I forgot to get something on this blog for OVER A WEEK -- it's jus' that there have been -- les' see....24,596 other things that have come up -- happened -- occured -- all that and more. Then -- out of the blue, one of our "friends" suddenly popped up with a new girlfriend, never mind about the wife back home an' all of that...jus'came over to the house with new "friend" like there was nothing out of the ordinary...got to admit, a lawyer would have a field day with that lil' occurance...I'd just come in the door from retrieving something that I'd left at the grocery store, in the shopping cart, so I was already NOT in a good mood...an' the WIND was blowing me all over the place...so my temper was less than short...my mood matched the black-inky dark night (it was after 8 p.m. at this point) and then there were probably 2,890 bad drivers on the road in the short mile-and-a-half from the grocery store to my house...an' I drive up to see this CAR in my driveway, an' my mind is sudenly a whirling dervish...Walk in the house an' WHAM -- see all this nonsense at my dining room table...

Well -- there have been so terribly much more THANGS happening around here, but this is not the afternoon to rant....I'm trying to limit the rant-ness to less than 4 times a week around the house, an' figure that the rant-less I am in the house, then by all that's right an'; spiffy, there sh0uld be less on my blog, too -- SO -- that being said...I've gotten a LOT more accomplished on the ART side of life...I'm thinkin' that there must be some kind of muse that's set up shop jus' over my right side, who's gettin' me into the creative drive that I'm sure has never occured before. I got up the nerve to finally get some of my work framed...I've applied hanging wire to the back of all my collage pieces to this point, but recently I'd taken pieces of my work to a local shop, an' the shop owner wants them in her place (!!) but I have to frame them. I'd been afraid to do this...why, I've no idea, but when I realized that there are frames deep enuf to gather all my piece an' extra goodies on them, then it jus' came down to what size I needed to get . A quick drive to the art/craft store was the EASY part...the hardest part was gettin the frame that I thot would look best for each piece...so they aren' t cookie-cutter looking. And once I got the first frame, then it seemed that all this NEW stuff has suddenly jus' started bubblin' up from somewhere that I didn't even know existed...SO -- the finished pieces will go into the newly bought frames, then the works in progress will get finished over the weekend, an' framed probably by the first part of next week!! That's so much fun!!

I'm also gettin' the vibe for SPRING!!! -- While I work on my various pieces..there is sometimes out of the BLUE one of the Surf Tunes poppin' up in my head...usually when Istart to gather pieces of collage paper that happen to have water designs, or if I gather some pieces of Shells, Fish...whatever the piece seems to call for...In the last month or so, one of the Beach Boy's songs was floating around in my head..."We've Been Havin' Fun all Summer Long..." -- this while I was trimming some blue shaded pieces of cardstock...I usually have some music playin' in the studio, but it seems when the radio isn't on, then these ol 60's songs jus' come floating back to me. An' especially when the Mermaids start to get more developed while I'm sketching them out ~~ WHOA!! ~~ Then the Beach Music really kicks in... An' the weather man sayin' that the temps are "suppossed" to be warming up "like just before the spring temps will arrive" -- Ohh...I'm all about the SPRING happening here!! An' with the new work gettin' underway...well..Naturally I'm all about finding some t-shirts in the storage basket...An' if some of those winter pounds have gotten in the way of the t-shirts fittin' like they did last year..well then, that jus' calls for another trip to the thrift store!! HA!! None of that going-to-the-new-store- business...NO!! I'll gladly let some other sap pay the high price for some thing that was sold for over $20....I'll pay the $1.99 thank you VERY much!!

Some craft items have also found there way into the studio in the last couple weeks...I'd tried not to let some lil' items get into the shopping cart not too long ago. But they looked so forlorn jus' sittin' there on the shelf...an' I truly do not like to see SAD things on the shelves of any, an' I mean ANY art/craft store, so NATURALLY they had to come home with me..They will behave nicely an' join in with the other pieces in a collage gettin' together on my lil' craft table -- an' before ya know it ~~ WHAM!! ~~ A whole new piece, filled with joyful happy craft pieces, swayin' to the Surf Music an' havin' a good time lookin' forward to Spring!! Bright colors of BLue paint..some clever cardstock pieces of squares, triangles, rectangles...an' of course, some Fish stamps!! Les' hear it for the arrival of SPRING!! WHOO-HOOO!!

Lady of The Tulips -- who was all about diggin' out last years flip-flops...but had to make a sad face when she realized that she literally "Blew out my flip-flop..." -- the bottom of my most favorite pair of flip-flops came apart one afternoon jus' when I got back home, and realized they were Deader than a Door-nail....very, very sad...

"Not Like Other Ladies" -- Copyright 2007
Spring Bay Studio

This is one of my more recent pieces that I had the most fun with!! She sorta came about when I'd been looking at some photos from my grandmothers college annual ( that doesn't look spelled right but tah dah...) and realized that there are just some people who do not fit the "Mold" and want to dress like, or have hair like, or drive the same car like Everyone Else..there are more important things to do...like have a party!!

This is in no way endorsing goin' out an' slammin' down a bunch of drinks at the local watering hole..this is jus' like havin' a "party" with the kids sharin' Kool-Aid, chocolate chip cookies, and realizin' that Other people may not like that...Well, for all of THEM -- tough!!! I lived in a place where a LOT of people were constantly all OVER me, tellin' me How to Dress -- What To Drive...Where to Shop -- etc. etc. !! So...this piece is for all of them -- You can't force me to conform to something I have no desire to do, and there should be no reason to TELL Anybody how to live their life to conform to a standard that doesn't fit them..

Shwoo!! That rant felt good!! -- And this piece is all about feelin' good!! The winter has been pretty nasty across the US, and there are some spots in Europe that have been hit really hard by some ugly weather..so this little "Lady" an' her friends are here to let everybody know, Go Ahead and Have Fun!! Put Down the Uglies an' have a good time!!

I'm now workin' on a couple new pieces ~~ think there's about 2 if not 3 in the works at the moment..the poor lil' craft table is jus' about maxed out on the room it has left -- most space on top of it is covered at the moment with SOMETHING -- watercolor pencils..stencils...glue...tape...acrylic paints...DOG HAIR...sigh...

Lady of The Tulips -- who has to let out said DOG 'cause she knows I'm tryin' to get something done away from her, an' she does get jealous...sigh...

I took advantage of the sunshine the other day an' got a picture of my lil' room -- This wasn't a day when the room was too overwhelmed with STUFF -- jus' one of the days where I'dtried to get some work done...in between the interuptions of the "children" an' their various phone calls...

The window is wonderful for watching the birds outside..an' since we're near the regional airport, I see all the planes taking off for various destinations..I think somewhere I'd mentioned that when my youngest worked at the airport, I'd taken him over so he could pick up his paycheck. While I was sitting waiting, another vehicle pulled up in front of me, with 3 people getting out. Apparently the woman driving the car was bringing a couple to the airport so they could fly somewhere -- home or whatever. So, while I sat watching, this couple kept pulling out suitcases, and suitcases...suitcases and suitcases...after TEN OF THEM ..my brain went into STOP MODE -- I was absolutely dumbfounded.

Now - I admit that I'm not one to be a Fashion Doll, or whatever the name may be...but by Golly Miss Molly -- I don't have enuf clothes to stuff into TWO suitcases, let alone 5 - 6 . I jus' sat there looking and wondering...

But back to my lil' space...(that rant felt good tho...) -- It's so nice when the sunshines in, and the temps aren't too hot...summertime can be pretty brutal tho...so I keep the sliding glass windows/doors open an' let in as much breeze as there can be...The Dog, sleeps over on the other side of the work table...tho yesterday she layed right by my feet and snored...I never can figure out how she decides where she's gonna lay down. I have to be very careful when I roll my office chair out away from the table, 'cause I may roll over The Dog...

But that's where the Muse comes in and joins me for my Daily Stuff...I'm not sure whether to call what I do "WORK" or what? Is there a correct name to what I do?? Should there be a name for what I do? I mean, like with a "regular" job..."I'm a receptionist.." "I'm a Nuclear Scientist.." WELL -- I'm an Artist!! So that IS what I do, and that is my "Title" -- my "Work" is that I create Art!! -- an' have the Sun to keep me company ~ The Dog to give me big sloppy doggie kisses...and the Breeze to keep me cool, an' remind me that the World will be ok...

Lady of The Tulips - who is now ready to go back to the work table 'cause the heater is warmed up now an' my fingers won't be too chilly to paint...

~~ The weather service has been very good at telling us that well, yes, it is going to be cold for the next few days, and while it's a no-brainer, it STILL makes me so darn agrivated, 'cause there are people who have the time, dollars and a automobile that can make the trip down to FLorida...and totally excape all these stuiped little snowflakes...or in the case of the people in upstate New York, more snow piled up and up and up that anybody wants to think about.

OK -- it is February, but it gets a little tiresome when the car takes more than 10 minutes to get warm in the morning, and naturally one of the "boys" is running later than they should be...naturally that leave The Mom to try and get somewhere FAST when that very word is against all that's normal in her mind...and the past week was So much of that -- HURRY -- HURY -- HURRY -- an' then sit and wait while something else is going on. Had to take the youngest one to a couple of job interviews (and once again, the Bus system does not go anywhere close to any of the job sites...) and then had the joy of sitting in the cold patiently waiting for the interview to get over with. And wind is zippin' around the poor old car an' I'm wondering if it's really safe where I'm sitting....next to a railroad track, right in the smack dab middle of downtown in an industrial park...

Then..as if that is jus' not enuf FUN ~~ the Very Fine Automobile has been taken over by The Husband, so ME gets to take on the poor abused Saturn, that the oldest left for his younger brother to use. And, who naturally ISN'T using, because he doesn't even have a drivers license...Whoo Hooo....This really shouldn't be looked at like, well looking at a gift horse in the mouth..but this poor car is really beat to a pulp...over 200,000 miles on it...the transmission has a fun lil' thing about not going into gear just when the traffic lites turn green, and I'm stuck in neutral..or better yet, gets stuck in 5th gear while goin' along down the highway, and doesn't want to downshift to 4th...or any other gear for that matter. Scared? Naw, not me....REALLY scared is more like it, and looking in the rear view mirror with absolute fear is actually more like it...cars comin' up behind me at usually 10 - 15 mph over the speed limit, an' there I am, like a dead duck floating in the water....2 days in a row I messed with that sort of thing...an' now I'm realizing why my right arm, shoulder and back are in some sort of pain...fighting with the gear shift an' gettin' nowhere...an' naturally I would like to be ANYWHERE else...but, well, here we go back to wanting to be South where it's warm....

Fortunately there has been some more work done on the Collage side of things, an' after the first of the week I should be able to get something up on here...I've got a little fiddling to do on one of the mermaids I recently got set up...been messin' with her for what seems like For-EVAH but I think I've got her jus' about where she needs to be.. An' she didn't turn out too bad, even if I don't mind sayin' so myself....Had so many darn interuptions I thot I'd never get her done, but she's gettin' ready to make her lil' Debut...well, not quite the Debutante type of THANG but you get the idea...

Have only a couple minutes left -- the youngest is due home shortly, an' is gonna get some sleep after he gets back in here. That's what's tricky about sharing the computer...3 people, one computer an' one room to use it in...Get's a lil' hairy some times..."Are you done YET???!!" -- Once I hear that question between the brothers, I know there's gonna be some tense moments an' usually have to referee to keep the 2 from strangling each other...Ahh.....siblings....

Lady of The Tulips - who is still wonderin' how to go about getting warmer in the house without making the gas & electric bills more sky - high...sigh...

~~ "Star Fish" ~~

Copyright 2006 Spring Bay Studio

This was one of the pieces I got done fairly fast...got some of the collage papers an' jus' sorta went to glue stage pretty quick...then I got the "Does this REALLY look right?" kind of thots buzzing thru my head. So it sat on the work table for a couple dayz...then a week or so..finally it got to where I'd take a look at it an' get disgusted..that horrible "Inner Critic" was taking over my head, and it nearly drove me to distraction.

Finally I got back to work on it - got some other papers set on the piece with matte medium, and got to where it felt like it was just about as good as it was gonna get. The funny thing was getting all the beads to behave themselves. I'd used some glue that really, and I mean REALLY does a number on my head...fumes make me want to mumble an' fumble around. So I have to be carefull when working with the stuff. Anyway, got some of the beads set, and when Iwent to get a picture taken of the piece, some of the larger beads wanted to jump away an' go somewhere for the winter...talk about making me MAD....thank heavens all of them decided to stay put when I got another batch of glue slapped on 'em.

Now I'm pretty much in the same boat with another piece...it's been sitting on the work table for nearly a week, in different stages of "Done" --- no, NOT done -- then it was revamp time and all the original painting I'd done went out the door. Well, not actually out the door, just into another file folder an' put away till, oh sometime next fall....VERY confounding if I do say so. Now it's sitting back in different stages of layout. One would think that just putting together a collage would be a ~ ZIP ~ an' DONE kind of thing...if anybody out there can do that pleeze let me know...I just have to tweak every little thing these days when it comes to getting a collage done. No inner critic, just SOMETHING... The new piece will get done ~~ I'm jus' not too sure WHEN...

Jus' realized it's after 4 p.m. an' I haven't gotten a thing done in the kitchen...Dinner?? What's that?? Do the men in the house really REALLY want to eat something tonight??

Blast...suppose they do....other wise there'd be so much bellyachin' it'd be horrible...

Lady of The Tulips -- who - DUH!! - realized that she hasn't gone to the grocery store in nearly a week...could be that's why the refrigerator is nearly empty...'cept those weird things wrapped up in foil...hmm....

~~ Pondering ~~ Pondering ~~ Pondering ~~

Been sitting looking at some watercolor paper I painted just the other day...got some tissue paper sponged up with a pale blue..and after applying the tissue paper to the watercolor paper, I wanted to apply this whole sheet to a piece of foamboard I'd cut out...well....I will readily admit that I'm lousy at math..an' even tho I measured TWICE an' thot the watercolor paper waz the correct size to fit the cut foamboard...OF COURSE IT WASN'T ~~ So now I have this very cool painted paper an' nothing to use it on..well, at least for now.

So - instead of making up a piece of foamboard with THAT little experiment, I've now got something completely different started -- I just cut out a batch of little stars, after applying (oh hush..that isn't spelled right so there...) some nice gold glitter all over them, an' they don' look so bad...I made it easier on myself an' used my craft knife to cut 'em out -- rather than use anything else...So -- now there they sit all alone an' forlorn on my craft table, waiting for their big moment to be used for Something...

But instead I came into the house to get warmed up a little. The lil' heater in the Studio is good, but I don't want to pay for some Exec.'s vacation at the Electric Company with the amount the next months electric bill is gonna be if I don't cut back on using the heater too much. It does make me ohh so cozy out there. Sometimes I get too comfortable in the heat an' then jus' sorta start starin' out the window an' then reailze I'm getting NOTHING accomplished...So I gotta snap back to attention, as it were, an' paint an' play with my Art Stuff..

The Husband has been given some blood pressure medicine for now..The Dr. took a couple blood samples the other morning, an' also gave him some cholestrol ( oh now that's REALLY spelled wrong..) medicine...so he's a happy camper for now. The Dr. said he will have to be seen the first of next month, an' that will cover him for his DOT physical - All he has to do is let the attending Dr. at the clinic (where the DOT test is taken) know he's under his doctors care, an' he should be able to get another 3 month extension on his card...

One of the people working at the Port said it may be worth The Husband's time to go check out a Health Food Store on the Oceanfront an' look into getting some herbal treatment for his blood pressure...so we may go an'see what there is...can't hurt...

Well -- Both the youngest an' middle one are just about finished w/their jobs for the day, an' they'll be calling for a ride home...naturally the job the youngest has for today, is not even close to any bus line, an' the middle one can't figure out if his job is on one of the bus lines that runs near our house or not...he's gonna check it out today. If it is, it'd be great, 'cause the Bus stops right in front of the building where he' s workin' -- Whoo Hooo!! -- How great is that??!!

Running off for now...well, not exactly RUNNING...that'd be kinda weird..last time I tried to run, the youngest was watchin' me & sez, "Please never do that again...." > Sigh <

Lady of The Tulips

"Starshine"

Copyright 2007 SpringBay Studio

Originally I'd made this lil' picture but after looking at it for a spell, it made me feel like it needed some more stuff -- So, finding some more stars, glitter stuff I painted not too long ago, an' some other collage papers, I had a field day -- got some matte medium and put the rest of the goodies on the piece ~~ not too bad for something that I really wasn't too thrilled with. I think it was actually a stage of "Ohh Woe is Meee...I'm not good...I'm not anyting that anybody wants to deal with..." -- BLAH --

So - now there are some other pieces that I'm gettin' ready to get into the computer, an' someothers that I need to get photographed ~~ my middle one is giving me a crash course in workin' with the new digital camera. Nothing like the old fashioned ones I've used in the past...an' a whole lot cheaper than' those old ones from WAY back in the day that developed while you sat an' watched...they had some ditty - name but I can't remember what. They were a mess if you happened to get some of the developing glop on your hand...an' sometimes the paper would do weird things...my youngest made a nasty face one day when one of those pictures threw-up on me an' spilled that glop all over me. Naturally we were at the beach -- not close to any water (other than the ocean..) where I could wash my hands...an' when we DID make it to the bathrooms at the state park...they were closed for the winter. BLAST!!

Those were the days...

Well -- This is a short post - but I have some watercolor paper dryin' in the Sunroom/Studio -- an' I need to skeedaddle (is that how that's spelled??) back in there.

Lady of The Tulips - who has to enjoy the sunshine in the room before the weather turns icky-gak in the next couple days....we had flurries the other day, an' that was quite ENOUGH of THAT!! -- thank you very much...

*** Well I swanny!! ***

Here it is Sunday already, an' I've still got my lil' project sitting out in the studio, being very patient and quiet...sometimes I'm glad that the little fairies who live out there don't suddenly pop up an' slap me upside my head. And yes, sometimes I really do believe there are little fairies out there...pieces of paper...bottles of paint have this Thang about moving from where I'd set them down on the table...an' not be there the next time I've needed to use them. An' I know for certain it's not The Dog -- she moves so much at the speed of a snore that I'd be suprised if she jumped up for something other than biting her fleas.

So -- at long last, it seems that early in the week, I'm finally going to break down an' buy a NEW CAMERA!!! -- my middle one is quite good with cameras, an' since he's the one who has taken most of the pictures of my work, naturally I've asked him to go with me to the area computer/electronic stores, an' tell me what certain cameras have as far as qualities for getting good clear pictures. I'm not into all the great-glam-gettin'-action photos type cameras...I'm more interested in getting something that's pretty basic...can get the detail of my collages photographed well, an' also get an "Action Photo" of The Dog or The Husband while their at their best...each on their respective couch, snoring so the curtains are moving in the breeze from each of them.... WELL ~~ anyway..you get the idea. Something not too outrageously priced...not something that has 1,203.496 extra goodies included...I'd be 85 by the time I'd learn all the extra thangs on some of the cameras we've looked at. But, I'm pretty excited by the whole thing..an' it should be -- in theory -- by midweek that I'll have the lil' goodie in my hot little paw.

The Husband, yaahhhwwwwhhooooo is finally going in and seeing a Dr. about his uneven blood-pressure. The original Dr. that he saw a few weeks ago, finally called him an' said that a group of Dr's have looked over his chart (s) an' The Husband will be seeing one of them tomorrow afternoon. It sounds weird, but hopefully they'll take his pressure after he's been drivin' all day, so they'll have a chance to see what a full day of truckin' does to/for him. The Husband tho, is NOT lookin' forward to the part that he knows is coming along with the visit...the part where the Dr. will tell him -- "Loose Weight!!" -- The Husband has been absolutely in DENIAL of this for wayyy too long, an' now it's lurking right in front of him. Fortunately, a friend of our middle son, has a book that her father used to get back to the ideal weight for his body type -- he lost over 90 (!!!) pounds, so I'm absolutely going to get a copy of the book for The Husband to not only read, but put into WORK -- I can shout, yell, scream, beat the wall about how over weight The Husband is...but it literally goes in one ear an' out th other to him...he is going to HAVE TO loose the weight or the truck driving may go away...an' that's NOT a good thing. It'll all work out for the good, so it's gonna be worth whatever the cost for the visit is gonna come to.

Bought some paks of beads the other day.. an' also got some storage baskets to put all my goodies in that were sitting in ugly cardboard boxes...the paper in the cardboard has a tendancy to do weird things to certain kinds of art paper...something about the treatment of wood fiber that makes the cardboard has sometimes discolored paper I've stored in it...can't tell if it's the art paper, or the cardboard...but either way it wasn't makin' me too thrilled. Now I've got papers stored in plastic bags, most labeled, an' then stacked in the baskets. The storage bags make it so much easier for me to immediately see what's in each bag, an' then I can thumb thru the stack, see which one I want, an' go from there. An' the storage bags are so cheap at the grocery store...sometimes on sale for less than $1.00 -- Not to be passed up at that price!! And I've also got some new larger storage boxes..clear plastic that allow me to see what's in each box...so I can pop one open, grab whatever I need out of it, close it back up, an' know that dirt an' DOG HAIR won't get on the papers, fabric, or whatever is stored in the box. I don' know who designed those plastic storage boxes, but I hope they got a good retirement outta designing them....an' have a good time in Florida or wherever they are!!

Mus' go now -- I've got the Seldom Scene on the Bluegrass Channel (cable) an' feel pretty good...may even break down an' do a lil' dance on my way out to the Studio...but will have to be careful NOT to trip over The Dog....sheesh...

Lady of The Tulips -- who has tulips in the flower beds, that have not shown their lil' faces yet this winter...but the daffodils are ready to pop open, an' the camelia is in bloom..all pink an' frilly flowers tumbing their nose at the cold temps...

"Dolphin Dance" -- Copyright 2006
Spring Bay Studio




This is one of the pieces I worked on last fall -- I'd been wanting to get over to the oceanfront, but there were a gazillion things that kept me from driving over there. Then, one afternoon The Husband mentioned on the phone that he'd seen some dolphins playing in the water near one ot the terminals, and had to call an' tell me --

~~ Meanwhile ~~ the youngest is now out of work -- he's not really mad, jus' aggrivated that the job didn't last longer than he was told it would -- he's with one of those temp. agencies, and he's been pretty lucky with getting work. But the supervisor at the distribution center had led him to beieve that the job he had for the past few weeks would last till sometime in March. So one can imagine the happy-happy joy-joy he felt on Thursday when we got home, and the temp office had left a message tellin' him he wasn't needed any more. Urrrgghhhh....an' this after the car decided it wanted to get stuck in neutral an' wouldn't go into ANY gear while we were in a driveway trying to get back onto the main blvd....weeeeeee....So -- now he's back to waitin' for the next call an' see what it's gonna be like. Fortunately he's a very easy goin' person, and the change of jobs isn't nerve racking for him. He'd been with a couple of day-job temp offices, but that was really a difficult thing to do. I had to take him to all of the different job sites, an' most days that meant getting to the office by no later than 5:30 a.m. an' then waiting for up to an hour and a half for the office to get him a place to work. Drove over 100 miles a day with that deal.

Got some more work done on the current collage I've been messin' with -- Finally broke down an' got some more beads at the art/craft store. I've suddenly become enamoured with beads...'specially blue an' shades of blue -- tones that convey the ocean and all the fun lil' critters swimmin' about. Trick is to not go OVER the edge with bags an' bags of the beads...it get's so easy to jus' grab "a couple" bags of beads while they're on sale, an' the next thing ya know, there's $25.00 shot. Lot's of fun to explain to The Husband..."WELLLL...hunny, it was jus' that they were on SALE!! See?? SALE!! That makes it Better!!" --- he rarely goes for this explaination...bum...

The studio is callin' for me -- had too much runnin' around yesterday to get anything done AT ALL -- An' besides, it's sunny an' warm in there right now, so I'll take advantage of the warmth before the cold wind starts blowin' thru the cracks in the walls...I won't get started on the construction of that room --- glad it wasn't my money...

Lady of The Tulips -- who's considering travelin' to some WARM place, but only has $120 in the checking account towards any thing...blast...

*** Since the weather is going thru some sorta WEIRDNESS phase...I've been working out in the garden beds getting ready for the rest of what's SUPPOSED to be winter -- weeding some of those nahhsty lil' buggers that have popped up in these rediculous warm days. The tomato bed has the worst lil' things -- somewhere I read that a group of what I feel are WEEDS, happen to be some type of edible plant (s) -- I, howEVAH, will not take the chance and pop any of them in my mouth whilst outside in the dirt -- there are some thangs I SHALL NOT DO -- eating WEEDS is one of those thangs...

The Husband is STILL waiting for some word from our family Dr. -- Actually, since the office is part of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, we have to usually wait for a group of Dr' s to come up with some sort of answer to any dilemna (sp) we're goin' thru. The Husband did say, that the Dr. he saw, had his complete file with him -- Even got to see a letter he'd been waiting for from another truck company, telling them that he was eligible for a driving position...it just never got sent -- helpful when one is waiting for a JOB!! -- Anyway ~~ the group of Dr.'s are to let him know if he's diabetic or not...or it may just be high blood pressure, not associated with diabetes..but until these guys come along and SAY SOMETHING -- The Husband has to wait -- wait -- wait -- and in the meantime hope that the next time he goes into the clinic where he gets his D.O.T. physical, that it will come back good...Makes my last good nerve jus' twinge --

Anyway -- had a chance the other day to have a short chat with one of my elderly neighbors -- this woman is an absolute joy to be around...you never know what she's gonna say from one minute to the next. She's had a rough 2 - o - 3 years..first she had to have some heart work done. Has a pump of some sort regulating her heart function. Then very unexpectedly her husband passed away almost a year ago -- he'd been diagnosed with cancer not 5 months before he passed away, but the disease had nothing to do with his passing. She has muddled along in the months since all of these things have happened, and stopped by one saturday while I was cleaning out the front flower beds and replanting some flower bulbs.

We were commenting on strange weird things that can happen to a house..like little things that jus' happen to haul off and BRAKE -- about the same time our kitchen drain decided to stop - up and be ugly, she had the exact same thing happen in her house...where I payed $79 to have a pair of plumbers come and clean out the drain line, she payed over $140 to have the exact same thing done, but with another company...Then, she said ~~ she tried to get her front door locked one evening, just before going to bed. Tried to get the door to lock, but the stuiped thing jus' would not shut...kept hitting the little door jamb piece, and would not do anything else. Now, for an elderly woman, not being able to lock the front door isn't jus' a little annoyance...it's darn right scary.

So ~~ she locked the door with the other slide-lock she has, and went about the rest of the evening. She called a locksmith early the next morning, and within maybe 2 hours, here this fella shows up -- has this little black bag, not unlike the old Dr. bags from WAY back in the day -- an' in her words..."Ya know what? If that s.o.b. was at this job for more than 5 minutes, it'd be something...but that guy didn't work more than that -- an' ya know what he did?? Got out this little file...yeah!! ...a FILE ... an' sorta scraped along the side of some lil' S_ _ _ _ piece on the door..filed it away, shut the door, locked the s.o.b. an' said, There ya go, ma'am! -- I didn' know what to do!! So, I asked him, "Ya mean that's all your gonna do?? " -- he sez, "yeah!" -- So, I ask him, Well, jus' what the Hell is the deal here? All ya do is file this thing an that's all there is?? What's the problem with the door, anyway? --- An' he sez, I kid you not, "Well, ma'am, the house has to settle a little in order to get the door to shut an' lock right sometimes..." -- I about knocked the guy in the mouth!! I said to him, Well, I've lived in this house nearly 51 years, you'd think the son of a B _ _ _ _ _ woulda settled by now, wouldn't ya??!! "

I laughed so hard...'cause I had the same company come an' try to unlock out back door 'bout this time last year...the first guy tried to open 3 (!!!) of our doors, an' couldn't do a thing...finally after 5 hours (yesss) another guy shows up, takes 'bout 5 minutes, unlockes the back door, an' tells me it's $70 dollars...Then, the neighbor sez a couple other things have broken in her house...all little things, but after all of them right in a row, she's about to scream an' run away to some foreign country -- cept she can't, 'cause her Dr. said she can't leave till he runs some more tests on her heart this winter. !!! Can't win for loosin' it seems like --

Well -- The Husband has come back home w/the youngest, an' it's quiet out in the front room...that's not a good sign. Means 2 people are up to somethin', and it's usually never good when that happens...


Lady of The Tulips -- who has another leaky faucet in her bathroom, an' is not ready to dish out another $70 to have it fixed...even tho the plumber is quite the cutie!!! OH! shame on ME!!

~~ With some matte medium, fabric scraps, and a sheet or two of collage paper, I'm finally getting a new piece underway. The last collage I worked on was jus' before the holidays, and it didn't quite cut it for me. It'd been "finished" probably a year ago, and it felt completed at that time...but I recently brought it out of it's little storage box, looked it over, and decided it needed some extra zing...Maybe because it's the New Year...making old things better, getting all that weight off (ok, ok, maybe not ALL that weight off...ahem..) but it jus' feels better to be getting Cleaned Up this year. Hopefully the change in projects will be worth the time and energy.

>>> The Husband recently had his required Department of Transportation physical taken care of...but it didn't quite turn out the way he would have liked. High Blood Pressure was the culprit, so now he has to take some time off and make the harrowing trip over the river and thru the woods to the Dr. office. The office is in a complex with one of the larger Medical Universities in the region, so finding a parking place is always a thrill. Plus, the City has decided not to overlook the chance to add insult to injury, and now has a pay/parking fee station at the exit of the parking lot. It isn't enuf that a Dr. charges an arm and a leg for an appointment, and add to it the fee for parking. Once in a blue moon the appointment may go quickly: Get Seen...Pay the Office Visit...Go Out The Door, and be on your way....an' pay .50 Cents for parking an hour. HOWEVAH...how often is it that a Dr. visit takes only ONE HOUR?? We've had to sit for 2 hours most days, and by the time the sticking, jabbing, snuffling and what-all-else is done by the Dr., it's been 4 hours. Most times, once I've dragged myself out of the office, I've contemplated having a glass of Gin...OH, Don't Get Ruffled...I haven't had Gin in over 30 years...but sitting in the Dr. office has sometimes made me REALLY consider a good stiff drink...

So -- this should be interesting to see what all will be done to The Husband. He hasn't gone to the Dr. for at least 2 years, and I'm fearing that the office will commence all types of tests, experiments or who knows what all on the Little Fluff...He's not too thrilled, but this is something he absolutely HAS to take care of. The Dr. who he had to see for his required physical, was not too happy with him, and would only give him the Endorsement for his CDL for only 3 months. That way...He Sez, The Husband will have had time to get his medication (s) for the blood pressure..get that back within the required guidelines, and then he can get his CDL Endorsement for 2 years as is required by Law...The clinic that the truck company uses is pretty good about telling Drivers what they have to do for their job..but it just irritates an' rubs the wrong way when it's an ugly Something that's prohibiting a complete Endorsement...sheesh...

And with the Sun shining into the studio, it looks like it's time to Get To It -- finish some fabric cutting, find a good piece of Blue-Green-Turquiose (blah..spelled that one really bad...) paper, and be having fun. One thing that really, an' I mean REALLY gets me ruffled all to pieces, is when I've got some painting done, an' the paper is jus' THIS close to being dry..an' lookin' it over, I jus' happen to glance over the sheet...AND FIND DOG HAIR ON IT!!! AHHHH!!! I'll turn my chair around Really Fast, glare at the Dog, an' get ready to give her The What For...an see that she's not only sound asleep on Her Couch...but she's snoring as well...Oh For The Love Of.....

Lady of The Tulips ~~ who was told by her youngest that she too, was snoring the other morning...but Lady of The Tulips thinks this was jus' his way to wake her up an' get her down the street in The Very Fine Automobile to the thrift store...

A quiet and joyful new year has decended upon us ~~ nothing has happened that would knock anybody's socks off, so that seems like a good sign for the rest of the year. I mean, nothing has occured that would scare us or make us go screaming out of the house, into the front yard and start tearing our clothes to pieces.

That being said, I just heard a siren go off on some kind of emergency vehicle, over on the larger highway near our subdivision. Fortunately the siren and vehicle are not on their way to our home, so that is definetly a good thing.

I've never made any New Year's Resolutions, and it seems that most people I know have theirs forgotten by time June rolls around. I think one year our oldest made some kind of resolution, but it escapes me what in the world it was. Neither the middle one or our youngest has said any thing toward a resolution...I think they both have too many things going on.

Which brings me to something that did happen to me & the youngest earlier in the week. He's signed up for classes at the local community college, and went about applying for financial aide. The office took most of his information, he filed a FAFSA for whatever Federal Monies there are lurking out there. Then, he decided to try and get a small loan to use as a way to get the classes he needs, without having to wait on any grants or larger loans he may receive. He went back into the financial aide off. to see what they would say, and they told us to wait in a room just across the hall. A nice woman said she'd call his name when they came to his file, and then there would be a discussion on what he could do -- maybe even take a deferment just so the classes wouldn't get filled before any funds come in.

Fine ..... So...we wait....we wait some more...an' jus' a little bit mmmmooooorrrreeeee......
4 & 1/2 hours later, my son finally got a chance to see one of the financial aide people...just for them to tell him that they don't have a deferment program, and for him to get the classes he needs, he'd have to pay cash for them...somewhere along the lines of $600. To say we were somewhat suprised is putting it mildly. But -- the good thing is -- that since my son has this knack of being resourceful, he came back home, got online, rearranged the class schedule he'd set up, and is now able to take one of the classes online, and will only have to pay for that one. The other classes will be available in summer, so his thinking is to take them then, which should be when his financial aide will be available. I was so worn out from sitting and sitting and SITTING in that room, I couldn't see straight, let alone try and come with another schedule for college classes...sheesh..

So -- things are looking up for him..and he has another temp job for at least this week..and the middle one got some work last week, and should get paid for all of that sometime early next week. He'd been cleaning an elderly couple's home, and was expecting to have 1 more day there, but the husband became ill, went into the hosp., and won't be able to get back to his house for at least the next few days. But -- my son isn't too worried about the pay, but he is concerned for the health of the gentlemen who's house he cleaned.

The Husband has been driving and driving and DRIVING here there and everywhere it seems...a few trips out of state, a couple to D.C., and lots of loads being taken from one Port to another aroundHampton Roads. He's rather the happy guy because his wonderful middle son got him a BIG ol' bag of clothes for him to wear. Lots of pants from thrift stores, some other from friends, and still others from other people the middle one knows. But, I think the most wonderful present The Husband is Thrilled with, is a new coffee maker our oldest got us for Christmas...there isn't a coffee pot to go with it...there's a little lever that you push with a cup, and the coffee comes out of a little container inside the coffee maker. Something like the drink dispensers at fast food restraunts...push the little bar and the soft drink comes out of a container behind the clever signs saying what kind of soft drink it is. Clever. Clever. Clever. I'd seen a commercial on tv sometime last fall for the new coffee maker, and just about jumped off the couch and yelled "HOLY MACKEREL!!" -- said some other words too, but won't print them here...les' just say I was mightly impressed with the lil' goodie. An' then, the oldest hauls off an' gets us one...Man - O - Man! >> As you can see, it doesn't take a lot to make us happy...

So ~~ on goes the New Year ~~ and now it's time to go and make some more collages..I think there will be another one posted here in the not too distant future...am now getting ready to get some picture wire set on one piece, and do some painting for another collage -- Dont want to sit and waste time!!

Lady of The Tulips -- who had to let The Dog out so she could romp in the back yard..the weather is quite warm, which is sorta freakin' me out...but if it makes The Dog happy, who's gonna stop HER from playin' -- After all, she's off the COUCH!!