The Beauty Salon

In our quest to look beautiful and my quest to fend off the grey, Jennifer and I went to get our hair done. It is the one place that everyone publically admits that they are not satisfied with what they have! Our salon now has a plastic surgeon who is doing botox injections in the back room where they also do massages. The call it a day spa now. It a one stop beauty shop. Jenn and I are both fighting our roots, hers are brown and mine are grey, but either way we want them gone. It amazes me as I look around, the lengths we will go to stay beautiful! They have girls doing nails, hair, permanents, curlers, waxing eyebrows, bikini lines, upper lips, the botox, restilane for plumping your lips, massages to help the stress we must feel about having to do all this to look good. Last year, or was it the year before, Jennifer cut off all of her long blonde hair and donated it to locks of love, this year she hasn't decided to part with it yet.

So thankful for......

I am also doing an ATC exchange. It is called "So thankful for......". I did an oil pastel (my first) of my coffee cup. Thankful for my husbands loving hands that bring me coffee in bed every morning. The cup is pink and was given to me by a friend. It is a Longenberger cup signifying breast cancer awareness. I have painted it before because I have a friend going through radiation after her lumpectomy. I pray for her when I see my cup in the morning. This holiday season my sister told me that they found a lump. She is now going in for a biopsy on Feb. 7th, we are waiting to see. I pray for her now too, all the time. I am now thankful for the huge survival rate when detected early. Lets take better care of ourselves and have our mammograms!

Dinner with Friends

I invited Marta and Rudy over for dinner last night. The weather was getting quite blustery and waited to hear if Marta had to work or not. They arrived about 6ish and she brought me a beautiful colander from the cooking store, filled with lemons and blood oranges from her tree. We had a wonderful dinner. Randy braved the elements to barbecue our steaks and I made rice pilaf and a salad. We sat and talked about their trip to Europe over some wine and dinner. It was such a wonderful relaxing evening, dreaming about all those exotic places that they got to see. Cheers! I am so excited to get two more pieces of fruit for my fruit series! Thanks Marta and Rudy! Here is the sketch of my gift with fruit, done in my handmade watercolor sketch book!

Second in my fruit series

Today the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day! It is the calm before the storm according to the weather casters. Another big storm is expected tonight through Sunday. I love that we are getting this rain, it cleans everything and makes it seem new and fresh. We put in drain lines throughout our backyard so we are not getting any flooding, that also helps me to relax and enjoy the bad weather! I love a day or two of gloomy but I am sorry for those who live with months of grey skies, pouring rain that never stops and extreme cold. They say it leads to depression when you don't get enough sun, I know it would for me. I love that its cold enough that I can light the fire and have a cup of hot chocolate at night. Then the next day the sun is usually out and warming the air. We live in an irrigated desert! Ok, enough about the weather, don't you talk about the weather when you have nothing else to say?

This is my second piece of fruit in my series, the banana. The banana is often called a tree but in fact it is not. It produces a psuedostem which grows quite high and then produces bunches of either green, yellow or red bananas. After producing its bananas the stem dies and then it send up another psuedostem and the cycle repeats. Grown mostly in the subtropics and tropics since they cannot tolerate freezing temperatures. The yellow banana is often called the dessert banana while the plantain is considered the cooking banana. And thats our lesson on bananas! Did anyone noticed that I ate the banana first then painted it? Sometimes its just too tempting.

My first series!!

I decided to do a series for the postcard exchange that I am doing. I don't usually do series because I easily get bored. I decided I needed to work on discipline so I will do 25 pieces of fruit, there has to be that many, right? I also am looking them up and learning more about them, and sending the information I find. It is an effort to learn something new everyday, my brain is turning to oatmeal these days. I don't have enough (intellectual) stimulation, a common problems of young, stay at home moms that are dealing with little kids. I am determined to try and make myself exercise my brain too! My challenge will be to see if I can retain any of the information as I add it to my blog! Here is my first postcard, tangerine. Citrus riticulata, good source of vitamin C. Main growers are China, the US isn't even on the top ten list. Clementines,mandarins are also in the same class, just different varieties. They are ripe now, during our winter and I love that they bring a ray of sunshine into the kitchen when its dreary outside.

The Purse

I bought myself a new purse at Christmas, I then wrapped it up and allowed my husband to give it to me as a gift. This way I wouldn't feel bad that I was shopping for myself when I was supposed to be shopping for everyone else. I have to confess that this was truly an impulse buy. I know I don't like two strap because one is always fighting to fall off my shoulder yet I bought it anyway. I knew that I liked to have some pockets on the side to hold my cell phone, but I bought it anyway. It was cute, and soft and had leather from Italy! So I bought it, against that small voice that was screaming at me "NO". I was good though and wrapped it up and put it under the tree for Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to get rid of my old purse and move over to the new one! Two days after Christmas I cleaned out my old purse, choosing only the best lipsticks and items to make the transfer. I went through the tons of receipts that manage to make their way into my wallet and purse. I placed everything inside carefully, using the cute side pouch for my lipstick and pen. One side was for my wallet, the other for my checkbook, sketchbook and phone. Officially, I have been using my new purse for almost a month and I HATE it!!! Everything gets lost in the sack part and there are only a few pocket which open too wide and things just fall out. The cute magnetic closure doesnt stay shut so it looks like a gapping hole, the black hole. Thats what I am calling it, the black hole. I have to pull everything out of it to find my keys, a pen, my glasses. Maybe if I use it long enough the bottom will fill with receipts and bring everything up higher where I can get to it. As I sat for an hour yesterday at the doctors with Jennifer I drew the black hole which took up the seat next to me. Its so soft it doesn't have any shape, it just lays there! Its hard to make out since I didn't finish it but I hope you get the idea of the blob purse I now will own for some time! Maybe I will do a purse series, one a week, it seems to be a love/hate relationship for most of us. Has anyone found the perfect purse??? Let me know.

My mom arrived home safely the other day and she called to tell me so. Then she said I can't wait to throw this purse away and get something else, I just hate it!! SEE....

So Thankful for.....

I am doing a ATC exchange at Wet Canvas. I love to do these cuz they are fast and fun and I enjoy getting surprises in the mail! Marta and I have our own exchange, its an TATC, which is travel ATC. We paint something from places we have been and send to each other. We started last year and to be honest, Marta has owed me one for sometime and she goes to all the good places!!!!! I received this beautiful ATC from her a few days ago. It is just beautiful and she wrote a little story of when she was in Paris with Rudy and how its her favorite city. We artists have this wonderful gift where we can freeze a moment in time and then share with others. I love sharing her travel adventures with her, I hope that this year we will have lots more to share. This is Notre Dame Cathedral. It also came in a great little envelope that she had done at Moo.com. On one side she wrote me a note and the other side was one of her tomatoe paintings. It was almost like two gifts.

Sinuses AHHH

My body is still trying to conquer this yucky thing. I got some antibiotics finally but they are just now starting to kick in. I am one of those people that hate to take medications. I hate to even take asprin,I don't know why. But I had to cry uncle and ask the doctor for help. I think today I may have rounded the corner on my way to recovery. I am so sick of trying to carry on a conversation with people while my nose is running amuck. There is one thing about being sick, it reminds me how good it feels to be well!

Check out my Slide Show!

Life Drawing and then the Quilt Show

Last night Dawn and I and Marta got together for Tapas and Sangria to celebrate Marta's birthday! We had a great time just trying to catch up after all the holiday business. Afterwards we went to the museum for Life drawing classes. It has been so long since I have drawn or painted I didn't know how I would do. The first few were pretty bad but then I got into the groove a bit. Still under the weather from this stupid sinus infection I pooped out pretty quick. Between the sangria and the medication and my runny nose, I fought to stay focused on the model. We had drawn her before, she is a robust black women, the last time she was our model I did a watercolor of her. Her hair was curly and she was a bit thinner. The unfortunate thing about painting someone is that you study their body and notice all changes. LOL I think she was a bit too overweight for modeling. I like a heavier model but too heavy and I think its harder to know if my porportions are right.

Tomorrow I have an all day class at Road to California, the quilt show. I have a quilt hanging there and am anxious to see it. I love to shop all the hand dyed fabrics and look for different things to incorporate into my quilts. I hope I feel better and can do this all day class. It should be great fun, its all about embellishment and creating different textures with fabric.

Christmas and New Years

Happy New Year!!! I have been so neglectful as far as blogging and I have had many wonderful comments. Thanks you for all the nice emails and comments you have left over the holiday season. I have been so caught up in all the holiday activities and with my mom still here I find my normal schedule is anything but. She doesn't do computers and can't even fathom the idea of a blog. I don't get alot of time with her so it has been so nice to have coffee together in the morning and dream over gardening catalogs. We have managed to buy some plants for my new backyard and even got them planted before the rains hit. Moms are so special, I love our time together. She has severe rhuemetoid arthritis and is on infusions every month. The risks to her overall health are so steep but she can not function unless she has them. I know our time together is never guarranteed so I cherish this time together. I miss everyone and hope to paint soon too!

Family Traditions

We have lots of family traditions that surround this time of the year. Some are silly and some are more serious but we all love them. I continued things my mom started in an effort to make Christmas special for us when we were young. She was raised on a cotton farm in Alabama with 14 brothers and sisters. Their family was very poor and they didn't have much. It was so important to her to do special things during the holidays that would make them extra special and she always made all our dreams come true. I have added my own things to her list and one of the things I added was a Gingerbread House party. I started it when the girls were young, maybe 11-12. Although it has evolved throughout the years it basically was, I supplied the houses and invited moms and kids to come and decorate a house to take home. They have to bring 2 bags of candy to the party that will be shared by everyone. At the end I hand out ballots to vote for the most original, best candy etc and there are prizes plus they get to take home their decorated house. I loved this party, I always let the girls invite their friends and I invited some of my friends and it was a house full of kids, candy and the wonderful smell of gingerbread. This year, my oldest daughter, Kim had the party at her home. I handed it off to her this year as it seemed more appropriate for her to throw it for her friends who now have their own children old enough to enjoy it. She carefully asked if she could do it this year and I knew it was time. For myself, it was a bittersweet moment. I was so thrilled to see her love it so much she wanted to keep it going yet sad that I would not be hosting it anymore. I passed the baton and she did such a great job. I got to help decorate and make the royal frosting and she got to get all the oooohhh and awes over her home and the party etc. It felt so good to see her shine, its her turn, its her time. I guess that is part of growing older, learning when its time to take a step back and watch as the reflection of ourselves continues. She will make it her own special yearly event and it will evolve her way and I am so excited to watch! Here are some pictures of that day, I was the photographer and I love the faces of the younger kids as they are still full of wonder and amazement in anticipation of Christmas.

The Party

I have been so busy trying to get everything just right for our annual Christmas quilt group party. I have been sewing, cleaning, painting gifts, shopping, and cooking. Then in an effort to not look completely haggard and frantic I had to get my hair colored and cut! Phewwww, made it! We had a great time, well I did for sure, it was so much fun to see everyone again. We haven't met for sometime and the group really missed each other. Unfortunately a few of the women got sice at the last minute and couldn't come, we missed not having them. But for the ones that came it was a great reunion and chance to catch up. We had tons of wonderful food, I love potlucks, a chance to sample everyones recipes! We played games, well some of them did. Others, who's name I won't mention, tried to sabotage the efforts of others! So some listened to M____A and found her much more entertaining than my party games, but they didn't get the gift either! We did our gift exchange and everyone got some lovely things. Dawn brought me a beautiful ornament that I will treasure every year as I pull it out to decorate my tree. Shelly gave me a wonderful angel candle holder, oh I love the decorations, I could never have too many! And just think, those were just my hostess gifts! What a great night, visiting with friends and eating!! How much better can life get?

I've been under the weather

I have been a bit sick, not the flu but more of a cold, sore throat, headache sickness. Then it seems like the medicine I take for it makes me even more sleepy! I think that might be how it works, it just keeps you sedated through the worst of it. I haven't had time to draw, I have been just resting with my drawing pad, doodling. Lots of nothingness but helped to pass the time. Maybe the apple signifies and apple a day. Santa's north pole, my longing for the wonder of Christmas. I miss my art so much now I am taking it to bed with me. It bad when your husband comes home to find you curled up with a sketch pad, a box of kleenex and the remote! Can you tell I have an exciting life? I wonder if their is a profession that analyzes the real meaning behind our artwork doodles?

Marta, Dawn and I are scheduled for some spa time on the 13th, I am so excited. It will be wonderful to have a little pampering during this stressful and busy time. I have been busy decorating since I have a party on the 7th. Lots of preparation and things to get done. The pool will just be a big hole still but hopefully it will get done before summer!

My last Card for the year

With my house full of boxes of decorations waiting to be put in their place I realized that this would have to be my last Christmas Card painting. Its just to close to Christmas to do anymore cards! I am doing an original watercolor painting Christmas card exchange. No prints or photocopies, just originals. So instead of sending one of the ones I had already painted I decided to do another. I like it and I am mounting it onto a metalic wine colored card stock. I need to send it by the first of December so I am glad its done. The other cards that I had printed arrived today so I can begin the yearly project of addressing cards. But I love it, there isn't much about the holidays I don't just love!!

Our New Family for Thankgiving Dinner

My last ATC, Yippee

Well I think I have finished all the ATC's I needed to do. I have to go over my list now and double check to make sure I covered everyone. I saved this last person til the last since I wanted to do a few things for her since she was so kind to Jennifer during our exchange. I want to paint her a few things. This is her ATC, it is of her dog. Graphite

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

My family ditched us this year, I started out with a house full and ended up with no one. My kids decided to go to Glamis early and beat the rush. They want to celebrate on Sunday instead. My mom and sister and brother spend it together up north so it left us a day to tile. We were getting ready to start our day when my girlfriend called and invited us to go to brunch with them at the Mission Inn and celebrate with their family! We had such a great time and the food was just wonderful, things like Salmon wellington, pumpkin pasta with a sage cream sauce. They had both breakfast items as well as the traditional turkey dinner. We ate outside in the courtyard and it was a glorious day, the weather was perfect. Thank you for including us!! I will post pictures later.

I did want to post my second to last ATC for an exchange I was involved in most of the year. I am so glad it is ending by Christmas. I found I started well but ended up getting bored and stopped working on them and now I just need to finish. This is a graphite and colored pencil cat, the scans never do graphite justice.

More Christmas card ideas

These are quick watercolor paintings without a prelim sketch, very loose, fun, and fast. Jean Haines did a wonderful video demo at the Watercolor Haven on loose Santa's and I just had to play! Her work is very loose and fluid. This style is meant to leave some areas for us to figure out. I love this style and since I am working on loosening up this is a wonderful exercise. I love the fact that by creating disappearing edges and leaving out most of the details we allow our minds to explore the picture and fill in the blanks. I think it makes for a much more interesting picture sometimes than spelling everything out. But, after I have said that, I also think there is a fine line between too loose and to much detail so I am trying to find that place where I feel it looks like a finished piece. I think these turned out well, it was hard trying to for see where the beard would actually be so I didn't paint there. I want to try and capture the feeling of Santa, happy,warm, inviting, I think the third does that the best. Number one looks a bit grumpy! I can't wait to do some more.

Life Drawing

Marta and I went to life drawing last night at the museum. It was the first time I have seen her since her trip. She showed up with olive oil and some oil pastels from her European vacation!!! These oil pastels are the same formula made for Picasso, so I am in good company but the pressure to create a masterpiece looms over these little crayons. I realized how much I missed her and our visits. We went to the mexican resuarant at the Mission Inn and had a lite dinner then walked to the museum. Since our model had not shown up someone there stepped in and posed for us! Wow, talk about throwing yourself into your job! Marta and I both agreed that she had to be pretty brave to pose for life drawing and then work there too. Then we left, I had to get home for my survivor night and she wanted to see CSI. I don't watch much tv at night but I love Survivor and I have a friend that comes over to watch it with us. This has been going on for years and the tradition continues. Here are my sketches from last night, not great but I haven't been in months and I am a bit rusty. She was quite lovely and I think she looks scarey here! My apologies to the model!!!

Another pict of the worker!

Pictures of the tilers!

The Pool

We are landscaping our backyard and we have put in a pool. This has been a long project since we began it back in March/April. We basically designed it and then we subcontracted most everything out and did a lot of the work ourselves. In an effort to save another 5-7,000$ we decided to tile the pool ourselves. We have done a lot of tile in our previous houses and felt we could handle this. Well this has really been a challenge, I appreciate the price quoted by the tile layers now much more. I don't think I would have laid it for that! The fact that the surface we are laying the tile on is vertical and you start at the bottom row of the water line, so basically the tile is floating and you have to create the bottom edge with bender board or something similar to support your tile. Then to make it harder we are using a patterned tile at the waterline so if it isn't laid just perfect all the way around it will show when the water, which is self leveling, is at different areas on the patterned tile. This introduced us to a new tool for us called a water level. This is basically a piece of clear tubing that you fill with water. You put the water line in the tube at the level you want and where the water line is in the other side of the tube is means its level. Its hard to explain but it works great, I love it. Then we have all these curves, and square flat tiles don't round corners well! Add to that the fact that half of the pool is above our heads so its out of our reach and so we have had to have ladders and boards, home made scaffolding, for working in the deep end. We also raised our pool out of the ground to prevent Jennifer from accidentally falling in with her wheelchair. This created another outside surface for us to tile. My mom just doesn't understand why when she calls we are still tiling! I mean you only had to lay tile at the water line after all! Thank you God for my husbands endless patience and the fact that he loves doing tile!

The reception

The reception was just wonderful and they had a really good turn out too. For me personally, I had the best turn out, all my kids came and most of their spouses and my DH family came to help me celebrate the opening. Marta also came with us and Dawn and her husband met us down at the museum. We all were really dressed up and most everyone else showed up under dressed. So we all looked great! There was champagne and hors d'oeuver for everyone. It was such a great night. I had an opportunity to meet some art quilt collectors and some of the other artists that were represented there last night. After a few hours there we decided to go into ole town San Diego and have dinner. There was lots of normal family memory talk, remember when you did this, etc etc. The kids haven't seen Randy's family in awhile so its always fun to reminisce about old times. Marta fit right into the family and was a fun part of the group. We didn't get out of the restaurant until after 10 and didn't get home until 11:30. I called to make sure everyone made it home safely before I went to bed. Thanks everyone for sharing this special day with me, having everyone there made it more even more special.

Today is the big day!!!

Well today is the reception gallery opening for the Visions Art quilt show. I am so excited, I have all my kids going and my husbands family and some friends. It should be a wonderful time. It is a two hour drive so it will be a long, late night for all of us. I will share photos and events tomorrow.

We had friends over last night for dinner and played Wii, we will probably all be sore for the reception! If some of you haven't played it, it can be very strenuous and doctors are now seeing patients with Wii injuries. LOL

I have also added my journal entry for the day. As I sat having my coffee in my pink breast cancer awareness mug it reminded me to pray for Ronna. She is a dear friend and was a wonderful support for us when we were going through Jenn's accident. The week my GF gave me the mug was the week she told me that she was diagnosed with Breast cancer. Every morning as I drink my coffee I will be praying for her fight for life!

Another Christmas Card Idea

This one is a sketch I started one night while I was laying in bed and my husband was watching the news. I was thinking about how everyone sends out Christmas pictures of their families at the holidays. I like receiving pictures and actually keep them in a special photo album. Its great seeing how their families grow over the years. That was what I was thinking about as I was sketching this, what would my family picture look like this year....... if we were snow people! LOL, a fun twist on a traditional theme. As many of you know our daughter lives with us and is handicapped, we are also down to one, one eyed dog. We make quite the card I think.

I might redo it in ink and some watercolor, I mean we have to have color in our Christmas cards!

Another Christmas Card

I am working on some Christmas Cards for this year. I haven't yet decided what I want to send out to represent us this season. I have done a serious one, the baby's feet, I have done a fun one, the snowmen and now this one. I don't know if I posted the snowmen, its fun and cute, I did it in pencil and would like to redo it in ink and watercolor. Anyway, this one is done in soft pastels, it looks better in person than I think it does in the photo. If I decide to use it I will just print cards from it, maybe tweek it a little in photoshop. I have been busy working on different pieces so I will have some things to post in the next few days.

Last night was also our 27th wedding anniversary. I am always so shocked as I hear myself say the years. It doesn't feel like its been nearly that long. I asked Randy how can we be married 27 years when I don't even feel much older than that. We had a wonderful dinner at the Mission Inn and sat outside by the fire and just talked when we got home. We talked about what years we felt were the best and the worst. How the hardest years seemed to bring us closer together as we learned to lean on each other more. We have come into a special place of trust and comfort and we still like each other alot! It was low key but still special. I love where we are right now, our life has had many twists and turns and we are still so close and still in-love!

This week is over!

Well I am so glad to come out the other side of that week. We had concrete poured four days in a row, the neighbors were starting to think we were cementing our whole backyard! Then in the middle of that my grandson went into a diabetic coma and spent the good part of the week in ICU. As terrible as it was I am glad he was away from the temptation from all that candy on Halloween. He is doing much better and my backyard survived too. I have been working on some fun things during this whole crazy week, my copper pots and my Christmas cards. The Copper pots began as a study on setting up still lifes at the Watercolor Haven. I then photographed my different set ups. We post our best and critic them, it was a great learning experience since setting up a still life with good light ect is hard. I decided on this set up to paint. I also did a WIP at the site which was fun and at the same time scary, I mean what would have happened if it turned out terrible!?

We are now starting to tile our own pool, this should be fun. I mean at least I have control over all the aspects of this project. I am so tired of hiring "professionals" and we still have to oversee them and watch their work. By tiling this ourselves we can change up some of the design elements we have done if we don't like them afterall. LOL So far so good, I am really enjoying it. We haven't tiled in awhile so the beginning of the project consisted of relearning and figuring out what we were doing. We both decided that by the time we are finished we will have figured it out and as long as the pool doesn't leak we are good to go. I will post some picts later.

Marta made it home from Europe safe and sound, it will be so good to have her back. I can't wait to get together and go over all her great photos and hear the stories. She even got to meet some of our blogging friends while over there, what fun, I envy her being able to do that. What fun!! Welcome Home my friend.

Another long term change

Randy and I had the opportunity to have an afternoon alone. We went and ran some errands and then went to lunch. Jennifer had gone with her sister Christmas shopping. As we ordered our food we were talking about some of the things we are doing in the backyard. It was then that Jennifer called on Randy's cell phone. She sounded excited and was talking really fast, Randy was struggling to understand her and all he got was "Call Kim". He then tried to call Kim but no one answered, then he tried to call Jenn back and it went right to voice mail. I think prior to 2000, I would have thought something like, they need to ask us a shopping question about Christmas or something like that. I would have taken the normal course of assumption which goes from A to B then to C. We wouldn't have panicked or probably even been overly concerned. But now, it seems like we go from A to Z. From calm to panic in one leap. I sat at the table as Randy called over and over trying to get ahold of one of the girls. I could see the deep concern on his face and I was feeling my stomach start to roll. My heart was pounding in my chest and I said "did it sound like they were in an accident?" How would we find them if they were hurt? Randy kept on calling as our lunch arrived, by now we were not feeling hungry and we were both trying to stay calm and rational. That was taking all of our will power. Finally Randy got ahold of Kim, Jen was just trying to tell us her cell phone battery was dying and if we needed to call her we needed to call Kim's cell phone. AHHHHHHHH. We sat at the table after that, talking about what we were thinking and how we were feeling. We talked about why it was we immediately panic now. We both agreed that once you have walked down that road you now have a real understanding of how terrible it can be. Before we only imagined how aweful it could be, now we really know and we don't think we could handle another trauma like that. Its fear, fear that we think we've tamed yet rears its ugly head at a moments notice and trys to strangle us. Ughhhh Will we ever get over it? Will we ever think normal thoughts during times like this or will we always think the worst? Will we ever get a grip on the fear or will the fear always have a grip on us? Logically, spiritually we agree that to worry and fear things is wrong, yet our hearts can't hear our brains.

Working on my cards

Trying to stay inside as not to breathe too much smoke. I am still working on images for my Christmas cards this year. I also painted this for fun, I do several samples then pick my favorite. I am not thrilled with it so might do it again. The model is Guilli, from Watercolor Haven. He is a wonderful member and we love his face to paint. He has so much character and he seems so happy. I tried to make him Santa here. The glasses are off and I want it to be a bit looser. This painting business is all about the sucesses and failures and all those painting in between. I share all, good or bad, know it is a learning process that never ends but continues to transform.

It continues as do the prayers

The fires continue today, the death toll is climbing as they find more bodies in the ash. Its so sad, I am sure the stories of these homeowners trying to defend their property will be next. I like the stories, I like when they take an obscure statistic, a number, a let us know the person, because then we can feel the pain. I remember when Jenn was admitted, they didn't know who she was, she was admitted a Jane Hydro Doe. Jane Doe number 8 and I feared she would become just a number to them. I spent a lot of time trying to bring her to life for these nurses so they would know how much she was loved. So they would treat her like the precious gift she was. The numbers they keep telling us about, the fire victims, or our soldiers, are more than just statistics, they are all stories. Stories of loved ones lost.

The sky hung in smoke today, it glowed an eerie yellow/gray color. The air quality is so poor they advise us to not be outside and working or exercising. I am running the air to keep the house clear for Jenn's poor lungs. This is the first day I am having a problem breathing, what must it be like on the front lines! Lord, bring relief for these men and women that risk their lives to save ours. Bless them and keep them safe. Wrap your arms around those who have lost so much and let them know your comfort.

FIRE!!!

We are on fire, not us personally but so many around us. I feel so bad as I watch the total destruction around me. Our families have been touched, some evacuated, some losing homes. How can you watch a lifetime of things and memories disappear as you look on. This fire, raging out of control is consuming everything in its path, filling the air with black, unbreathable smoke. The firemen look so small as they battle this goliath. Their jobs seem impossible as the fire snakes and moves all around them. They attack with hoses, and shovels, small stones in the scheme of things, yet they keep at it. So many victims, so many heros, so many stories. I have lived here my entire life and never witnessed anything this bad. Lord, be with all these families, the firemen, the hospitals. Give them the strength they need to fight this monster and win!

I sketched this quickly, not looking at a picture, only seeing the scenes play over and over in my mind. It is the second sketch in my new book.

I've been TAGGED!

I was tagged by Maria-Dom, I am supposed to write 7 random things about myself and then tag seven people. I am tagging Marta, Wendee, Teri, Ronnel , Robin , Sheri, and Diahn please forgive me if you have been tagged already.

Ok, let me think, 7 random things:

1. I love the look of well lit interiors of houses at night, its so inviting and homey. You get a glimpse of whats inside and I like to imagine who lives there.

2. I hate rude and bully husbands that like to talk down and belittle their wives or kids in public, thats the only time I wish I was a big, strong man.

3. I used to feel so bad I had my kids, so young, so close but now I am so glad! I love how close everyone is and how we are still young enough to enjoy them and the grandkids!!!

4. I love all mediums in art and cant seem to settle in on just one!

5. One of my favorite things is when my husband rubs me softly, my head and ears, its helps put me to sleep on those stressful nights.

6. I am glad I don't own a gun, since designating myself as the handicapped police. There are many people I would have liked to shoot watching them flip me off or cuss me out because I tell them they shouldn't park in these spots when they are not handicapped!

7. I have always wanted to be blonde or cut my hair really short and do something totally crazy, but I am too much of a chicken.

It's my birthday!!!

Yes, another year has snuck by me and I can't believe I am getting this old!!! I don't feel this old!!! I awoke to my coffee steaming next to my bed, filling the room with that wonderful smell. As I opened my eyes I saw an envelope resting near the cup, I opened a card from my husband with lots of loving things written inside, and a starbucks card. I thought to myself this is going to be a wonderful birthday, it is starting out so great. Jenn went off in the bus and I was able to get on line to get emails and I had a cold little one line birthday acknowledgment from my brother. I had an appointment for my hair at noon and I hadn't recieved one call from anyone. Where are all this kids I raised, giving them the best years of my life and now I am not worth a phone call. The mail came and there was one card, from my mom. Wow, my husband and my mom thats pathetic, I can't believe it, everyone forgot about me! AHHHHH Off to get my hair done and when I opened the car door my husband had another present and card, oh thank God for him. On the way home I get a call from my daughter& son, ok, things are getting better. Then I got home to flowers and lots of messages, then my other brother called, then my sister, my mom, Randy's mom and dad, his brothers wife...... ohhhh how wonderful to be remembered! When I retrieved my messages off the answering machine Marta had called from Europe WOW. She wished I was there and I missed her voice. What a great day, we went to dinner and the last of my kids calls then when I got home a giant balloon was on the door with a card from another girlfriend. I had the best birthday, it doesn't seem to matter how old we get, its so wonderful to be remembered!

I made my first mark

I finally christened my first hand made watercolor sketch book. I have been working on a watercolor project at Watercolor Haven, autumn leaves. I used leaves and made my first entry. This project is really fun. You take colors you feel represent fall and then you do a light wash, after it drys or is close you paint the leaf and press it to the paper. You can add more color, water etc for interesting and fun results. I love some of these so much I am framing them.

I'm SOOO EXCITED!

I just recieved the postcard mailing for the Visions Art Show, its a art quilt show that my quilt was juried into. It will run from November to January. I have always wanted to have a quilt accepted into this show, it is just art quilts and they hang in a museum just like an art show in a gallery. This will be their first juried artquilt show in their new building in downtown San Diego. When I got the mail today I noticed that I had a packet from them, when I opened it I found postcards to mail my friends and family for the opening reception. On the front of the card was 3 quilts, mine was one of the three. Wow, this is there big advertised mailing of the event and I am one of the quilts on the postcard going out to everyone, I am sooo excited. Anyway, I wanted to share it. YIPPEEE

Home again

I got home safely but I was in such a bad mood getting home. I think its that coming off the mountain let down. I enjoyed having some time to myself and it was hard to get back to my reality. I was really getting into a good pity party when I figured I best stop now or end up in the black hole of despair. I don't know why I would be feeling like that. I had just spent the last three days playing, laughing, sewing, being cooked for, someone making my bed and cleaning our room each morning. HMMMMM

The weekend was fun and we laughed so hard my sides hurt. I can't remember the last time I laughed like that! Oh my, what a story, to long to share but Ursula and Marta know what I am talking about here. Marta, Dawn and I all shared a room. Dawn got us a gift bag of bath goodies which she put on our nightstand. Then everynight she read to us until we fell asleep. Wow, that was the best! Thanks Dawn! Her voice was like music that just quietly lulled us to sleep. On Saturday we walked down to the main street and had breakfast on the patio while the mexican women that worked there made fresh tortillas. Saturday night the whole group went to a resturant we go to each year and had a wonderful dinner. I got alot of quilting done, Marta taught us all to bind books and Dawn knitted Christmas gifts for her hubby. It felt as though our friendly group was a bit clicky this trip. I know there was some tension with some of the women in the group and I just wish we could all just get along!!! I volunteered to have the Christmas party at my house on the 7th so I need to get busy and finish the yard! I will post my new sketch book tomorrow. I love it, it turned out so great, I have yet to sketch in it. LOL It seems to be so hard to make that first mark.

San Diego here I come

Well its that time of year again, retreat time. There is a great group of women that get together twice a year for a retreat, one in Big Bear, one in San Diego, we call them camps. We don't really camp though,this is where we stay, you can see that we are really roughing it during our visit here. It is in downtown so there are many great shops and places for foodies to get a fix. Marta and I and Dawn are sharing a room, should make for lots of laughs. Marta leaves for Europe right after camp, plus she is teaching a class, if I were her I would be a bit stressed. But if you look at her blog you can see she is ultra organized with all of her outfits drawn out in her sketchbook! I will miss you GF. See you tomorrow!

Fall

I love the feeling and colors of fall. We are just starting to see the effects of the cooler nights. I look forward to the trees blooming in reds and oranges right before the go into their hybernation til Spring. I think the thing I don't look forward to is the time change, the night and darkness arriving so early in the day. It isn't uncommon for us to work outside until almost 9pm in the summer. It will take some getting used to, the upside is that I get dinner prepared at a better hour! Pumpkins are filling all the stores now, the stands are starting to get prepared, the harvest is at hand.

My girlfriend when to Oak Glen yesterday for the apples, they are harvesting them now too. They sell home made apple pies, fresh apples, applesauce, and lots of other country treasures. I want to go this year. Instead I am heading to San Diego for quilting and painting with many dear friends, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend by the ocean, in the perfect weather, with friends, sewing and painting. Yippee I hope I can focus and get something done, I have this bad habit of being so excited to be able to just sew that I bring too many projects, then I can't pick which one to work on and just end up jumping around. This time I am picking one or two and thats it!!! Yeah right.