Iris-Scott-www.demilked.com
Filed under Creativity, Fun with Fingerpaint
Growing Bolder via Cathy Ruggiero
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Childlike Fun, Encouragement
“Mona in her Basket” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
africageographic.com
I love this sign. We have something similar that lives on the divider between the kitchen and our dining area –
Filed under Attitude, Funny Signs - Humor
victoryforwomen.org
I worked hard today, getting many things on my list accomplished.
I finally got my tax prep done to the point I can just plug in numbers and put receipts in the booklet our CPA sends us each year. Then I wait for one more thing to come in the mail and we can take it all and dump it on our wonderful tax man. This is the earliest I’ve ever done this, so I’m feeling particularly good – and a giant weight has been removed from my shoulders.
I shopped for groceries this morning, did two loads of laundry, changed the sheets on the bed, and cleaned up the kitchen.
I listed the stuff we’re donating to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith. I’ll call them tomorrow before we put the bags in the car because tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day and they might be closed.
I received an order for two sets of thank you notes from a good friend. I made good progress on them this afternoon.
I did the leash training walk with Amber without having the no-pull collar on. She did PERFECTLY. She stayed right by my side on the short leash. We walked out to the shop, then farther out to the garden, then all the way back, behind the house, out to the greenhouse, and then all the way across the front yard, into the garage and into the house. Amber got lots of love, hugs, praise, and a big dog biscuit.
I’m about to go start fixing our dinner, but I wanted to share my small victory lap with you. :0)
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Encouragement
I have a shop on ArtFire where I sell most of my work. I’ve just finished lowering prices and would like to invite you to take a look. :0)
Example of what you’ll find –
Hand-crocheted scarves with long fringe will help you keep out the cold right now. Stylish and FUN to wear!
Each scarf is one-of-a-kind. I’ve slashed the prices to $12.99 + $3.50 shipping. If you purchase more than one at the same time sent to the same address, additional shipping is just $1.00 per additional scarf. There are 6 different scarves available in my ArtFire shop HERE
Make bundling up to go outside more fun. Shop today!!
Filed under Uncategorized
mycraftilyeverafter
I’m gathering suggestions as to what to start when – and a bit on how – in my new greenhouse! My goal is to be ready to start some plants the middle of March. I’ll have to see what the temperature is in the greenhouse, since I don’t have heat out there, but if it’s too cold, I can start the seeds in the house and move them out there later.
Our greenhouse is 10×14. It is not heated or cooled with electricity because it would cost us a fortune. We do have the ability to have lights, and we do have an automatic venting system tied to the thermostat, so we can get reasonable ventilation in there, particularly when I leave the door open at the opposite end of the greenhouse.
So far I just moved things out there and stashed them somewhere. I’m giving some thought now to storage and work areas.
I would like to keep as much table area as possible for either planting seeds or staging the plants I’ve started. If we have some warmer days (like in the 40s or so) I’ll try to start moving things around, trying to get organized for the initial planting. I’ll take pics as I make some progress and share them with you. I’m hoping that I can stretch my growing season, growing my own plants to transplant out to the square foot garden when they’re ready and the danger of frost is past.
Our square foot garden used to look like this, with two rows of boxes on the ground.
Now we have six 4’x4′ boxes at chest level so I can replenish the Mel’s Mix in the boxes, mark the squares with string, plant, weed, and harvest without having to bend over or kneel down on the ground. The boxes have a fence all the way around them, reinforced with chicken wire to keep critters out. We have an automatic irrigation system set up.
I’m dreaming about plants, greenhouses, and glorious harvests this spring!
“Bridge Between Trees” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
It has been really cold for Arkansas already this winter. Our ‘worst’ month is usually February, and it has snowed on my birthday in March. Usually, though, we have a cold snap and then Indian Summer type weather through January. I think I mentioned before that last year I was still harvesting lettuce in January…
We have had no ice, though, and I’m very grateful. That’s the only thing that truly paralyzes us. We live on top of a ridge line. Our driveway is steep, 650 feet or so down to the road that runs in front of the house. It becomes a ski slope in the winter. We can navigate it down and up again if it snows because of the snow tires on the truck. Ice is another story. Not only does the ice make it impossible for us to go out, it breaks the branches of the trees. We still haven’t fully recovered from the damage from an ice storm in 2000!
That said, our 90 pound, 10-month-old lab puppy, Amber, LOVES this weather. She finally isn’t panting from being too hot. Her coat is very thick and she seems to grin all the time she’s outside. When it’s seriously cold, we don’t let her stay out long because she’s a huge dog with very little brain at this point, but we try to let her out often. When it warms up to our high of 36 today, I’ll take her out for her no-pull collar training session on the leash for the day – Day Three.
The fact that it’s too cold to be comfortable outside has helped in my efforts to declutter our house. Religiously every 30 years or so I go through the stuff in our house, taking everything out of an area, cleaning, donating what we think someone else might be able to use, throwing out what should have been thrown out years ago, and then reorganizing what goes back in. Yesterday it was our “coat, hat, muffler, and glove area” in the utility room and back bathroom. Today it will be the front hall closet.
So far, I’ve kept my promise of filling an EXTRA big trash bag to put out for the trash people each week. I’m piling things up for donations to our local library and the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith before the end of this month. My goal is to have donations each month, but if I don’t make it, the goal still stands and will remind me that I have much more to do. I’m trying not to be overwhelmed by how MANY areas in our house are crying out for my attention!
Though I don’t enjoy going through things and cleaning, I DO enjoy each area when it’s finished. I like the feeling of accomplishment, the cleaner, more organized area, the feel that I’m getting better control of our ‘stuff,’ and the happy feeling that I’m sharing things that we have enjoyed with others.
I hope you’re having a happy Saturday. Stay warm and enjoy your day!
beatlessongwriting.blogspot.com
I absolutely LOVED fingerpainting as a child in school. I would have done it at home all the time, but my mom didn’t want to worry about a possible mess. I still love the FEEL of finger paints – the freedom you have to play and play – squooshing the paint between your fingers, swirling it all around, watching the colors mix, creating something, then wiping it away with a swoosh….
Iris Scott loves fingerpainting, too, but she brings it to an art form. I’m in awe of her talent. She makes me want to play again, even though there is no way in the world I could ever hope to emulate her work.
Iris-Scott-“Finger-Painting-Spring”-www.crazyleafdesign.com
Iris Scott-inspirationhut.net.
Filed under Creativity, Fun with Fingerpaint
Yesterday we learned the hard way that a now 90-pound ‘puppy’ on a leash HAS to mind. She almost pulled my husband down three times between the car and the vet’s yesterday. It really scared us that we basically lucked out, not being injured by our happy-go-lucky puppy. We came home, dug out the no-pull collar, put it on Amber, attached her to the leash, and headed outside for a walk.
The no-pull collar is designed for the DOG to control whether he or she gets shocked or not. If the dog is obedient and doesn’t pull hard on the leash, there are no shocks. If he or she pulls on the leash, a shock is produced, continuing for a couple of seconds if he or she continues to pull. The dog quickly learns not to pull.
At first Amber was rambunctious and got shocked a lot. I decided that we had the shock value up too high, so my husband lowered it, and we continued our walk. We were all tense, since Amber got really upset at the beginning (this, after she paid NO attention to the regular shock collar at the vet’s). She got shocked once more when she tried to chase one of our cats; but otherwise, we felt the first training walk was a success.
When we came home from errands and Lunch Bunch today, we put the no-pull collar on and attached her to the leash. She hunched down and didn’t want to go out. I felt awful, but determined that we get this under control. We HAVE to be able to control her even when she’s excited, meeting people, other animals,being treated at the vet, etc. We don’t want to be pulled down and dragged by our dog. So I grimly insisted she come with me, my husband following along behind.
She walked as if she were on eggs, clearly associating the no-pull collar with the shocks yesterday. Her tail was between her legs. I was tearing up, gritting my teeth, hoping she would be successful. We walked out to the shop, and she did really well. We gave her a treat and then started back toward the house. She wanted to go back inside, but I told her we were going to walk around the house. When we got to the far side of the house, I continued to walk with Amber and my husband hung back, so she would have to decide whether to continue with me or risk getting shocked by insisting she go to him. Happily, she continued with me. I kept the lead short, so we basically walked side by side. I stopped a couple of times, waited, and then continued to walk. As we walked her attitude improved dramatically. It’s as if she had to re-learn that SHE was in control of whether she was shocked or not. Her tail came up and her step became happier.
We finished the walk, brought her inside. took the collar off, and gave her a big hug, words of praise, and another small treat. I’m hopeful that, as the days of daily walks with no shocks pile up, she’ll adapt to the collar without any more problem. We’ll give this a couple of weeks and then try going to the vet’s again…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
afremov.com
Darko-Topalski-www.topalski.com
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
I’m making decisions and changes in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.
The first is that I’m moving toward only listing paper products on Etsy. I want to spend more time hand painting personalized note cards and stationery. To this end, I’m having a sale on Etsy.
Please come look if you’re interested in
Each page of stationery in a set of 10 is different – each painted by hand. I paint a coordinating envelope for each page. Extra blank sheets are included in the set. Each page and each envelope can be personalized with a name, initials, or…. A box with transparent lid is included, all tied in a bow with a nice ribbon.
Hand-painted thank you cards are fun to send. They come in a package of 5 cards, each with a different painting. these can also be personalized.
Note cards come in packages of 5 and 10. These can be painted in watercolor or acrylic paint. Each one is different, and can be personalized.
I honestly cannot paint the same thing twice, so each set is truly one-of-a-kind. The sets are fun to use, or to give as gifts.
Please visit Creative Artwks on Etsy when you have the time.
Filed under Holiday Gift Ideas
I spent half an hour today playing ‘pick-up-sticks’ that Amber had collected. We then did one of her favorite things – letting her ride in the car! We went to the vet’s office in order to weigh our ‘baby’ on the large set of scales there.
We discovered that our 10 month old ‘baby’ lab weighs 90 pounds!
We had armed ourselves with her shock collar and the remote in order to be able to control her. The eye opener was that my husband was almost not able to handle her! She got excited at all the strange sounds and smells in and around the vet’s office and would not listen to anything we said, and ALSO wasn’t reacting to the shock collar!
We got her in and out again safely, but we were both really impressed by the fact that this could have been a real problem, resulting in injury to one or both of us, plus problems inside the vet’s office.
We decided then and there we were going to start TODAY – starting over with our leash training – walking her on a SHORT leash – the ‘no-pull’ one that we had put away – around the yard once a day. (This shocks her when she pulls.) We actually found out that we needed to turn the shock down, which we did, but my husband and I walked all around the yard with her for about 20 minutes. She was shocked several times at first, but then calmed down and was more cooperative, only getting shocked again when she saw one of our cats and started to run after her.
In addition to the daily walks with the no-pull leash, we plan to go back to the vet’s twice a month as part of this training. It’s important that she also get socialization plus training-while-excited practice by going to the vet’s and having to obey us. She wanted SO badly to greet the main receptionist that she wouldn’t even sit! We hope that the daily training at home and the twice a month trips to the vet’s office will get her to the point where it isn’t SUCH a big deal that she forgets all she’s been taught!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
The Owl Report via Cathy Ruggiero -peace-thatwastheothernameforhome-Kathleen Norris-illus-Johanna Wright
A cold front is due this afternoon. It’s 60 degrees F (!) outside right now. By mid afternoon, it’s supposed to be freezing with “wintry mix” and trickle-the-water-in-the-sinks time tonight through the middle of next week, at least.
Happily, we’re rich in books around here. I already told you that
So the weather can do what it will. We have hot apple cider for my husband and coffee for me, two dogs, two cats, 4 fish, comfortable recliners and throws, and lots of books to enjoy!
Filed under Family, Mother Nature, Reading is FUNdamental
pinterest.com
pinterest.com
Raven Tao-passionforproperty.wordpress.com
Filed under Cork Art, Creativity
creativeartworksblog 