Gobble Gobble

Well, its coming, its almost here, Thanksgiving! I love it because right after I get to decorate for Christmas. I love how Ronell has already decorated for Christmas but I have to wait. I don't want one holiday to overrun the other. My family is all coming this year, to be with mom, it should be alot of fun and very noisy! I recieved a challenge in one of my painting groups, they posted the head of a turkey, quite ugly by the way. No wonder they lose their heads. I thought I would take a few minutes and paint it last night. As I painted this little song started to come out of my mouth. It was a song from long ago, a school play that our youngest daughter was in. I sat and sang and painted. Jennifer said it was very creepy! LOL

Here's the picture, I challenge everyone to paint their own version of this goobler for Thanksgiving. Then post your link here, let us know how to come and see it! Here is the song... beware cuz its pretty catchy.

Gooble Gooble Gooble, Fat Turkey Fat Turkey

Gooble Gooble Gooble, Fat Turdeys are we

We're not here for living, we're here for Thanksgiving

Gooble Gooble Gooble Fat Turkeys are we!

Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas cards

Its that time again, even with so much going on I still really want to paint my own Christmas cards again this year. I think its so much fun to send cards that I have designed and printed myself. With the limited time I have had I haven't been really thinking about Christmas. Besides the fact that anything Christmasy that I might want to paint is still packed away until after Thanksgiving! Jennifer happened to find Pee Wee's Christmas dog collar as she was cleaning out her drawers the other day. When I saw it laying on her dresser I jumped all over it, its the closest thing to Christmas colors I have seen. Here is the little bells that are coming off of the collar. I might try some cookie cutter too, I should be able to find those!

Time slips away

My mom came down to stay with Jennifer so Randy and I could go to Houston. She got sick the day she arrived and after 2 911 calls and several trips to the hospital they finally admitted her and did some test. They found a mass in her abdomen and needless to say we have all been very upset and worried. After almost 2 weeks in the hospital I got to bring her home tonight. She is so weak and thin. They are going to let her try and build up some strength and then in a few weeks do a biopsy of the mass. They are not sure if its cancer or just a fibrous tumor but it is around the main arteries in her body and her kidneys. I haven't painted or drawn or done much of anything except just take care of her, and be with her. I have had family flying in and flying out, its been crazy. Its during these times that we remember how short our lives really are. We remember the things that are truly important and the things that aren't. We patch up silly family squabbles and overlook each others imperfections. Its a time when we all rally to support each other and be there to comfort. I am often amazed at how in the best of times people can be very ugly, selfish, petty and small yet in the hardest of times they can be generous, warm, loving and supportive to each other. Is it any wonder why God allows the hard times to come? I am praying that God gives her many many more healthy years with us, we all love her so much.

Houston Quilt Market 2008

Randy and I had the opportunity to have a booth at Quilt Market. I brought all my quilt patterns and at first the show seemed slow but as the days passed the wonderful opportunitys kept happening to us. I was approached by 4 magazines about submitting ideas and drawing for publication. I was picked up by distributors and catalogs. The most exciting thing for me was that a woman by the name of Nancy from Checkers introduced herself and told me she had seen my website and thought I should think about designing fabric. I have always wanted to do that, it seems like it would be a great fit for me. She then brought over Ann, who runs Red Roster fabrics out of NY and she asked me if I would be interested in signing a 2 year contract and I needed to get home and start designing! She wants my first line to release next year at Houston! WOW!!!! So exciting, if just a few of these things break open life would become even more exciting! What a great show we had even though I heard that the show was down about 50%.

We also went to Bernina's fashion show, it was incredible. The fashions were so exciting. Jay from Project Runway was there also, he was releasing his new line of fabric! Here are some pictures of our fun weekend.

The dresses are as follows, Galatea Adorned by Charlotte Warr Andersen, Midnight Waltz by Ludmila Aristova, Celestial Rendezvous by Janice Ellertson, The Body of work by Yvonne Porcella, Midnight Dance by Sandy Snowden. These were only a few of the many wonderful creations at the fashion show.

Friends

While I was at the art feastival this summer I love to just sit and observe people. People watching is so perfect when you are at large, outdoor venues like we were. There are so many different types of people, different colors, shapes, sizes, different lanquages, accents, clothes. Each one with their own opinion on what they like and don't like about the art. As I sat watching with my sketchbook I noticed two women sitting and talking. They were passionately sharing a story with each other, stopping to laugh now and then. I could only watch, unable to hear their story, I could only imagine what they were saying. I did notice that they both sat in very similar positions across the table from each other. Arms crossed on their chests, legs crossed sitting back against the back of the chair. I thought about how we tend to mimic some of the things our friends do the more we hang around them. The little things, probably unintentionally, but we do. I thought about my friends, the ones you can call at the drop of a hat and run out to lunch with. The ones that are available when you need to get something off your chest. The ones that will just do nothing with you. How blessed we are when are lives afford us those special people.

My birthday celebration early!

For my birthday the kids got us tickets to see Wicked at the Pantagas Theater in LA. It was a great play and now I know the real story!! After that we went to dinner at the Bonaventure Hotel in Hollywood, as we waited for our table we sat at the bar which turns in a slow circle to reveal a wonderful view of LA from the 35th floor. Then at dinner we had the same view but not moving. It made for a perfect day and night, this is our dinner view, taken with my phone. We were lucky that it was a nice clear day in Los Angeles. Today there are fires. I just love it when my birthday starts early then its like having a birthweek!

I think I am almost as old as Marta now! LOL HUGS

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Absorbed in the newness

I must say, I love helping with the babies. Its the whole thing, the bathing, the feeding, the smell of baby. Everything is so new, so fresh and so dependent. Everyday they change, their little heads and faces are changing shape, they are becoming their own person. Megan seems to be more needy and might need a pacifer where Rachel is happy to just lay there awake and look around. I wish I didn't have so much going on like the Trade show coming up, Jenns therapy, doctors appt. etc so I could just play at Kim's! LOL Oh well, I guess I will just have to run over as I can. The hardest part is that Nathan is not adjusting well. He is trying but for him its all changing. He is not the focus anymore. Everyone is trying to help him make the transition as well as possible. He keeps telling Kim that she need to stop taking care of the babies and take care of him now. Oh the saga of a three year old, only child who now has sisters.

The Babies are HERE!!

After the required amount of worrying, waiting and wanting the babies made their way into the world on Oct 5, 2008. My oldest daughter carried them for 38 weeks, which they say is very good for twins. They were born 6 and 6.5 lbs and withing a few minutes of each other. I never did see them cry, I hope that is a good sign for my very tired and apprehensive daughter. Today I watched Nathan, their three year old, and around 7:00pm they came to pick him up. He hadn't seen the babies yet. All he could say was "OH MY GOSH" as he tried to touch their hands and feet. He then looked at my daughter and said "Let me see your stomach!"

Back to a simpler time

This summer I have the wonderful opportunity to visit my mom twice! It was so nice to just get away and enjoy a different part of the state. It is very "country" where she lives, no fast food, one small general food store, farm supply. No hospitals just a small clinic. It is beautiful with surrounding vineyards and redwoods that stand like soldiers guarding the valley. Its one of those places that as you are driving through you are thinking " I want to live here!". But its a harder way of life. I often hear people say I wish we lived back when things were simpler and less complicated. Well simpler doesn't me easier. I think they must be referring to the lack of technology and their confusion with that. LOL But, with that said, there is something inside of me that is very homespun. I love all the things that revolve around the home, gardening, canning, raising our food, sewing, design etc. Just saying that makes me sound like a nerd! But oh well, that's me! I think I am a hip, cool, nerd LOL. I have often dreamed of living out in the country, doing all the things I love. With Jennifer now, that is out of the question, with the lack of doctors and sidewalks, being handicapped in the country would be tough!

While we were up there, enjoying the whole area, we went to Glass Beach which is along the coast. It is an interesting place, a unique area of shoreline covered in smooth glass. As I understand it, they used to dump all the glass trash out in the ocean years and years ago. The tide stirred up all the broken bottles and polished the glass and spits it up onto this one small section of beach. If you stand on the rocks overhead and look down the shoreline sparkles as the sunlight reflects off of the sand made of glass. People come from all over to gather the glass and they make jewelry etc out of it. Randy and I along with my youngest daughter and her husband decided to make the trip to the coast to see it. As we walked along the path to get to the beach there were hundreds of wild blackberries ripening on the vines. I could barely contain myself since the thought of blackberry anything sounds lushess. Randy promised he would help me pick them on our way back in. After a wonderful few hours on the cool shoreline and our pockets were full of glass treasures we made our way back along the blackberries. We picked a bag of berries and I went back to moms to make jam! Yummy, yes yummy. I brought home my goodies to enjoy and share. Here are the photographs of my wonderful find, and canned treasures. The question is " Is this the simplier way of life or would a run to the super market been a better use of my time? I will say that my emotional attachment to this batch of jam only became reality because of all the time and work involved in its creation. So now they sit on a shelf, being admired as though some rare artifact, I am even including them in my still lifes for painting before they are quickly consumed by my loved ones!

Running through

Wow, the days have gotten so busy, I barely have time to check my email. Please forgive me for running through, I will have time in a few days. Just wanted to make sure I don't become totally forgotten! The old saying " Out of sight, out of mind" is so true. This is another pastel I finished. It is a picture of a friends one eyed dog, Jack.

I loved the retro look of her livingroom! I entered it into a pastel show, I will know if it was excepted in January. But by January I may have forgotten I entered it.

Where does the time go?!

August seems to have flown by, rushing through as though it didn't want to be noticed but as it leaves I think, "there goes summer". September always brings things like school, a breather before the holidays and fall. The start of color, shorter days and cooler weather, hopefully. I have done so much this summer, more than I can remember doing since before Jenn's accident, I feel like my life is slowly evolving again. I haven't had much time to call my own or do what I want since 2000, but this summer seemed to have been filled with pockets of time to call my own. I find that its hard to know how to feel, I know that Jenn both suffers and benefits from my little selfish diversions. I know I need a life too, yet I can't help but feel guilty that because she is totally dependent on me for most things, if I am not there, she has to wait or go without. Its never very serious, just sad. So in that lies the guilty feelings I get at night when I think of the things I didn't do for her today because I was doing something for me. Ohhhh, how did I get off on this, enough, just stop...... someone slap me. OK to move on...

I have been painting pastels and another trip to my moms, so special, that time together. We all had a great time, we picked, canned and ate blackberry jam. Picked and canned pesto, went wine tasting at all the local vineyards, and collected glass from Glass beach! I took hundreds of pictures and have lots of good stuff to paint. I will post soon. My mom is amazing, and although she is in pain she never stops. Jennifer spent afternoons with her in the garden, enjoying all my moms hard work.

I finished my bird pastel I started in class, and finished another one that I entered into a pastel show. LOL Its not good enough to get in but it made me get myself out there. I need the deadlines. I am trying to fit it all in, I want every second of time to be stuffed with life!

Pageant of the Masters

Last night we went to the Pageant of the Masters and the Feastival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. It is a live painting production in an open air theater. We happened to get amazing seats and had an incredible view of the stage and all actors. It was wonderfully fun, we walked through the art show before, sat and listened to the band and then saw the show. If you have never been I highly recommend it. It is hard to believe its been going on 75 years and I have never been, and I grew up here too! Its so funny how we don't do the local things yet we will travel to do other things. There are so many wonderful sites and activities right in my own backyard!

Here are my grandkids a week ago, at Laguna Beach, playing in the water.

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

My pastel from class, picture taken with my phone!

Ok, I just got home and checked out the photo and , No Good, so I replaced it with one from my camera. The phone is light sensitive and didn't appreciate the window placement in the room! I finished it and started another one. It was so much fun!! Thanks Marta for the use of your pastels, I used them along with my ten tons too! The one thing about soft pastels is that you cant really blend colors to make new colors so you have to buy the colors you need, it makes for lots of pastels! I want to hang this in my sewing room.

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Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

This is my view as I start my first day of my three days of pastel
classes with Dianna Ponting in San Clemente. The owner of the art
store has graciously allowed us to stay with her in their beautiful
home,thanks Patti!

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Originally uploaded by imararefind

Serious Hubby

I wanted to do a pencil drawing of Randy, and I wanted it to be serious. That was hard because he is usually smiling. Anyway, I have been just playing with my mechanical pencil on sketch paper. I did this but not overly happy with it, I don't know if I caught his essence, I want to do another, maybe smiling next time! He hates it, says he looks old, but he doesn't, just distinguished. He wears this big ole hat when he is in the sun working all day. I love him in it!

Newport Dunes

We just got back from a few days in Newport Beach. The other kids camped at Newport Dunes and we got a handicapped room at the Hyatt across the street. OH MY, life is rough! As they were slaving over a hot stove in their toy haulers, I was ordering hummus and roasted vegetables. As they were playing UNO, I was playing shuffleboard. We spend Thursday night at the pool with them and Friday we all played UNO before we dressed for a wonderful buffet dinner and the jazz festival. It was so great to have that time with all the kids. I took a ton of beautiful pictures but they accidentally got erased since I can't figure out how to protect some and erase others. Ahhhh So unfortunately you are stuck seeing my lack luster sketches. It was a wonderful, relaxing few days that we all needed. We even took time to go to Sterling Art Store and Rogers Gardens. It was great! Since my post is lacking photos I included lots of links!! Oh I sketched another smoking man, his hand is a bit wonky but he was quite an interesting subject.

Earthquake update: Many of you know that we experienced a fairly moderate earthquake last week. We were only about 5 miles from the epicenter when it hit. The whole area rolled for about 30 seconds. It was very unsettling! I was born and raised here and still hate those things. Jenn and I were eating lunch outside of the rehab hospitals cafeteria when it hit. We were sitting next to the fountain which I feared might topple over, instead it just sloshed lots of water over its edges. It was really amazing as we sat there and watched all around us, everything seemed to move and sway, the palm trees, lights, buildings, street signs. Lots of nurses and doctors ran outside to see if there was damage, and everyone lost their cell coverage for awhile. I happened to be talking to Randy when it hit, he didn't feel it until several seconds later since he was in Laguna Beach. We all dread the "Big One" that is supposed to hit so we never know if this could be the one when the shaking starts. There was some damage but noone got hurt, thank God!

Mom Swimming

Back in April when we initially filled the pool and it was a chilly 63 degrees, Randy agreed to heat it a bit so we could swim! My mom braved the water and I got some great photos of her. I posted one of them on WC WDE as one of my sixteen photos. I had lots of people paint her and I ended up with some great interpertations of her. This is my painting, had to be done in less than 2 hours, it took me hour and half. I am somewhat satisfied although I wish I had done her hair a bit softer. I might try again.

Long Beach Quilt Show

Well, as rumors have it, some of you know that Marta and I went to the Quilt Show in Long Beach, CA on Friday. I have classes planned all day Saturday so our plan was to go check in and see the show then I would attend classes Saturday, while Marta went to the Aquarium of the Pacific to sketch and paint.

The show was great, we almost ran through it though since we didn't have a full day and we were starving. Lots of vendors and some cool quilts. I love the art quilts, since that's what I do.

Here are a few of the entries, great stuff!

We stayed at the Hyatt, and had a wonderful room overlooking the harbor! The lights were amazing as was the view, from our window we could see the Queen Mary and the dome for the Spruce Goose.

After the quilt show we changed and decided to walk around a bit before deciding where we would eat. We walked down one of the main restaurant rows where the eatery's lined each side of the street. There was live jazz bands playing and the hustle and bustle of the city hummed around us. It was still a bit early so we walked up and down the street reading the menus that were displayed in front of every restaurant. We originally wanted to eat at this little hole in the wall, cafe, wine bar, art gallery, it sounded perfect. When we got there it was a little lack luster and there sandwich type menu wasn't what we had hoped for so we kept walking. There were plenty of people walking the streets and the police were everywhere. They were on horseback, bicycles, cars, walking, they were all over. Every restaurant had outside seating along the street and I wondered if they appreciated the police on horseback or not, considering that the horses would leave gifts wherever they pleased.

We decided on Sevillas, a familiar place where we found things that sounded good. We ordered Sangrittas (Sangria/Margarita combo) and sat outside so we could enjoy the city. It was interesting to be sitting amongst smokers, most restaurants have banned smoking but I guess outside in Long Beach its still OK. We had our fill and walked along the boardwalk and the pier. Marta was watching moving stars in the sky(she swears they were moving) as I watched the people walking and bands playing. It just proves that you don't have to go far to feel like a vacation! We tried to talk her hubby into coming down to see us but he couldn't so we just waved at all the other firemen that drove by.

My classes were good too, the first was taught by and IQA judge and she was teaching binding finishes. Can I say BORING but I got through it. She was a bit slow and methodical in her approach and she had a hard time explaining herself to the class. I wont do that one again. I loved, loved my second class. It was called Fabric Graffiti and we painted, stamped, drew and colored on both fabric and paper. It was a wonderful creative class, very relaxed and the time flew by. I could of stayed in that class another 3-4 hours easy. These are just backgrounds for either journaling or collaging or whatever. Some I am not done with yet, can't wait to come up with a way to use them.

Keeping everyone afloat!

Today I had all the grandkids over for the day. When school let out I got some crazy idea one day that I could help the two older ones with their poor grades by working with them during the summer. I have had them about 2 days per week now. I don't know what drugs I must have been on the day I decided to do this, like I don't have enough happening! I want to know which fuse in my brain is short circuiting that causes me to not only agree but outright suggest that I take these kinds of projects! After all, I raised my kids already, this is crazy. Then I slap myself and then tell myself ," Be quiet you dork, you already agreed."

I went out and bought some learning DVD's, pencil's, paper. Since I don't have my teaching degree I need to look organized and prepared. I even took them to the library and got them all library cards and we checked out books!

They had never been to a library!

"What's a library card, Nana?"

"It's a card that lets you check out books"

"For what?"

"To read"

"Wow, look at those books over there, they say WORLD BOOKS across all the books"

"Yeah, haven't you ever seen World Books before?"

"NO!" What are they?

"They are encyclopedias!" I used to love to read them and every year we would get a new one.

"Wow, Nana, whats an encyclopedia!?"

Looking totally perplexed and feeling 7000 years old I responded with " It is like the internet in book form"

I have my work cut out for me!

We have cooking lessons, ediquette training, and lots of swimming practice! As hard as it is I have loved every minute with them. I usually take Mikey and Kylie together and then take Nathan, the two year old, on another day. As with most two year olds, life revolves around them and their needs. Today, everyone was here and something amazing happens to kids when they are all together, trouble and chaos! And why is it that when boys get together they are constantly belting out announcements of all the body noises they like to make. Like we all don't know what just happened. I don't know if I can really control chaos, it just happens!

And then, in the middle of the madness, there are moments that speak for themselves, those moments when all is right with the world.

Made in the USA

The dog show was on last night, and Jennifer watches them all. As I came into her room the cutest Boston Terrier was on the screen so I froze the picture for a few minutes and sketched this adorable dog! The lighting was so strong the right side of his face was almost completely blacked out with only the tips of the ears shining. I threw some paint on it today, it was fun, loose and fast. About an hour, 12 x 16, cold press. I think that Boston's are one of our "developed" breeds hence the title.

Peaches in Crystal

Today was really great. Marta got home and came right over so we could play with our new paints and brushes. We had a wonderful visit, she shared all her wonderful sketches, we had lunch and then after painting we swam. It was wonderful. When Randy got home he played cabana boy and made us martini's and served us at pool side, wow, what a day! This is my painting with my new colors, very clean and transparent colors, I like!

Summer Peaches

There are a few things that mean summer is here! One of them is eggplant and fresh tomatoe sandwiches (to die for!) and the other is fresh picked peaches on Bryers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream! Oh yummy.

We moved both my apricot and peach tree during the construction this last year and I was sure that I wouldn't have much fruit. But to all of our surprise the tree, happyin their new location, set tons of fruit. I watched the apricots start to turn a beautiful orange and as I got ready to pick the birds got every last apricot! Oh no! I swore that this wouldn't happen to my peaches! Its amazing how the birds just know when the fruit is ready and they come in and get them right before picking time. I have done everything from nets to CD's hanging off the branches at our old house to try and beat the critters to the fruit. So I was getting ready to cover the tree when I noticed that the fruit was ready, so I ate some just to be sure, perfect! So I picked a bowl of them, we ate them over the next few days and I went back out to see if there were any left and to my amazement, nothing was touched. This repeated itself twice again until now I am down to a few left to pick. The birds for some reason haven't touched them, makes me wonder whats wrong with them?

I took tons of pictures to paint so I can thoroughly enjoy my peach season through out the year. I then bought some new watercolors to help inspire me!

Fishing July 08

Well its that time of year again, deep sea fishing is here. Casa Colina plans about 3 trips a year and Friday was our first. The fishing was amazing, although my thoughts of sitting quietly in the chair relaxing as I wait for a bite never happened. We took the grandkids and Melissa along with Jennifer. Many of the people who signed up to go didn't show up so the boat was fairly empty which left the deckhands with little to do but bait our hooks and untangle our lines. It was heaven. I didn't have to stick one hook through a eye, or mouth or gill the whole trip! We barely were able to get our hooks in the water when our lines were hit and we either caught something or lost our bait. Everyone took lots of fish home, but Jennifer won for the biggest fish again. And whats even more amazing is that as they were helping her reel in her fish another line got tangled up in hers and as they pulled her line up another white sea bass hit the other lines bait and they reeled in two fish! It was like she caught them both! Here she is the ultimate fishing queen!

Two hour challenge

I belong to a watercolor group online and we set challenges up weekly. It is great fun to have such a rich selection of photos to pick from each week. These are meant to challenge us to try things we don't normally do, whether it is a different medium, style or subject. This week I managed to fit in 3 quick paintings. This one was a boating scene from Roger's photo group. I cropped out one boat and focused on it and the surrounding water which I have never painted. It was a great stretch for me, I obviously need more practice at it. This painting was done in about 1 hour. Its really about just making myself try and paint or draw something everyday, another challenge. Have a great Monday everyone!