“Cats have it all – admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it.” – Rod McKuen
“Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience.” – Pam Brown
“Cats are inquisitive, but hate to admit it.” – Mason Cooley
Filed under drawings
This is so true for ME – since ideas for art projects rattle around in my head – waking or sleeping. Sometimes I wake up exhausted from having “painted” or “wood-burned” in my dreams all night. :0) Right now it’s ideas for trying to wood burn and paint wooden bookmarks. Makes it a bit hard to concentrate sometimes, but it’s definitely entertaining.
Speaking of entertaining, Monster Cat has been particularly active lately. The photo shows Monster Cat (aka Jet) sprawled out on the shelf top beside my computer chair. She’s on there now as I type, but she’s in a ball sleeping. Shhh!
Her favorite toy (other than the big empty box in the middle of our living room floor she jumps in and out of) is what I call a “pompom ball.”
Imagine small poms like this fashioned into a ball. That’s the closest mental pic I can give. She carries the ball around in her mouth like this –
She plays ‘soccer’ with it first, batting it around over the tiles or carpet, and then picks it up and carries it like a trophy. I throw it for her and she LEAPS to get it – but won’t lower herself to actually bring it back, like our dog, Amber, does. She’s above plebian activities like that.
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I know you’re thinking about Thanksgiving right now, and I hope you’re surrounded by friends and family, now and into next week, but I hope when this holiday has passed, you’ll consider going to my Etsy site to see if anything looks good for Christmas gifts. Lowest prices of the year right now and as always, I handle the shipping charges.
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We’ll shop for groceries and get our mail today. That’s it for errands for us until after the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m hoping to spend time in my art room this afternoon, as ideas for Christmas presents for my friends are making their presence known.
Enjoy your day!
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
This art takes you into a whole different world. I just love it.
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Good morning! I hope you’re feeling sassy today. It’s 28 outside right now and we’re due for a 59 degree F. high for the day. We’re definitely turning the corner to the winter season now. I’m trying to get warm weather stuff OUT of my closet and cool weather things IN. It’s going slowly.
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I had a wonderful massage yesterday. I tried to see my friend Linda, who lives at the retirement place where I get my monthly massage, only to find out she was in the hospital with a blood clot! I contacted her daughter when I got home. The ER was its usual frustrating self, making them wait hours while Linda was in pain, finally doing some tests, giving her a blood thinner, and telling her to follow up with her family physician, which she’ll do today. Her daughter kept her from Friday, when this happened, until yesterday afternoon, when she took her back to the retirement place. The staff there is great, and will keep a close eye on her.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – 2.5″ long dangle earrings with French ear wires and marshmallow cushion backs. These are very light weight. Use this LINK to see this pair and other dangle earrings. Stud/post and Clip-ons available, too. $10.00 a pair with Free Shipping at HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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My husband ordered a roll-around table for a MIG welder, plus another welding table that has a lot of flexibility for his other welding projects. Both have come recently. I’ve been helping him, being a good “go-fer,” “holder,” second pair of hands, reader of manuals, etc. He finished putting the MIG welder table together a couple of days ago, after we put in about a million screws, give or take a few. I went out to see it yesterday, in all its glory, ready for his next MIG project.
Yesterday we received the fancier welding table. It is HEAVY! We got the dolly from our shop in order to get it from the garage where the delivery guy left it out to the shop. It took both of us to get the box onto the dolly. We rolled it across the yard and out to the shop, having some real trouble getting the wheels to go up and over the ‘lip’ of the shop doorway. We just left it there yesterday because my husband’s legs are hurting from his efforts the other day. I have encouraged him to go slowly trying to put it together. and I’ll make myself available to help. He’s like a kid at Christmas. The two tables are a combination Birthday/Christmas present.
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I had fun in my art room part of yesterday afternoon and evening. Wrapping things up on a couple of orders, grinning like a nut while I work. :0)
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Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Sent to me by my friend, Marsha.
I love things made from scrap metal. My husband and I have built critters displayed all around our yard. Due to insurance and liability worries, we have trouble visiting scrap yards anymore to find parts, and so our creating of ‘critters’ has mostly been curtailed.
Filed under Art From Found Things, metal art
“Hop into my heart, Little Bunny.” ~ unknown
“Life is better with a bunny by your side.”
When I was growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had two pet rabbits. One was named, “Peter (Rabbit),” and the other “Welsh (Rabbit)” (a play on Welsh Rarebit.) We lived in a ranch style home with cork tiles as our floor covering, so that was perfect for kids chasing rabbits and dogs, always a part of our family. I have such fond memories of snuggling with these two large rabbits. I absolutely loved the way their noses twitched.
I’m going for my monthly massage this morning. My body is creaking a “thank you.” My massage therapist (the best one on the planet) is Lynn Moody. If you’re lucky enough to be in our area, you can reach her at 479-629-7601 to arrange an appointment. She will find sore places you didn’t even know you had and fix them, plus handle the ones you tell her need special attention. Ahhhhhhhhh!
I’ll do other errands while I’m out. My husband and I will gather trash after we eat lunch and drive it down to the bottom of the driveway.
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I’m looking forward to working on a couple of orders from my Etsy shop this afternoon. It brightens my whole day to be creating something that a nice person has ordered. I simply can’t keep the grin off my face!
Please remember that the last date to order custom hand-painted Christmas cards for this year is December 10th. They can be personalized. A package of 6 is $14.00 with Free Shipping. See the designs using this link on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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I tried the recipe for “Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon and Cheese” (low carb and keto) by Kasey Trenum two nights ago. It was really good. My husband pronounced it “Yummy!” and already wants me to make more. We’ll put this recipe on our “keeper” list and I’ll include it in our rotation. I did this recipe with 3 chicken breasts and we had enough for some leftovers. I’ll use 4 next time. Here is a link to the recipe plus Kasey Trenum’s website.
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It’s 60 this morning and quite cloudy. I can’t find any of my weather sources saying we’ll get rain, but it sure looks like it. It’s 8:30 and is quite dark. What they DO say is that we’ll have a series of cold fronts coming through today. We’re at our high for the day and it should be in the 40s with gusty winds by this afternoon with freezing temperatures overnight. BRRR!
I hope the weather is manageable where you are and that your day has lots of fun in it!
Christoph Fischer is an award-winning photographer who offers photo tours and an awe-inspiring portfolio of his work. His book, The Art of Nature Photography – Using Visual Thinking for a Powerful Expression of Your Vision – can be purchased. All of this is through his website, Beauty Surrounds You.
Besides being talented, Christoph is a really nice person. If you read my blog, you know I joined BlueSky just a few days ago. I was immediately blown away by postings of his work, and we’re following each other there now. If you join BlueSky, his ID there is @cgfischerphoto.bsky.social. He gave me permission to post some of his work.
I hope you’ll visit his website, buy his book. Fair warning: looking at his portfolio can be like going down a rabbit hole. It’s addictive and you may lose a lot of time there. Happily, your ‘trip’ will be joyous. :0)
Carrie L. of Hot Pencel Art on Etsy, says she has been doing pyrography (wood burning) for 20 years. She offers custom pet portraits like these above, plus other things in her shop.
Trying to learn the skill, I’m in awe of her talent. She is a master. I don’t think practicing for 20 years will get ME anywhere near there…
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny
This is our dog, Amber. As I was working at the computer this morning, trying to wake up, she came up beside me, threw my arm up with her nose a couple of times and then, when she had gotten my attention, brought her ‘football’ over. Usually, she only wants to play ‘tug-o-war,’ wanting to rush back and forth, as if she wants to play ‘fetch,’ but not wanting to let me HAVE it to throw it for her.
Today she looked at me with the ball in her mouth and then said, “PAH!” and dropped the ball on the floor at my feet. We actually played ‘fetch’ for a couple of rounds before she again was more interested in showing it was HER ball. She smiled at me the whole time – grinning around the ball and her eyes lighting up. :0)
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – Hand-painted, one-of-a-kind, 5.5 x 7 spiral-bound journal with lined pages and some pockets for mementos, pictures, lists, reminders and more. $7.00 with Free Shipping. See this and others here on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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Yesterday I had what I call a perfect day. My husband and I went to replenish grocery supplies and did a couple of other errands, and then we were in for the rest of the day.
I wrote my posts for the blog and then headed up to my art room to paint. I spent about 3 hours or so, having a wonderful time. I should be able to finish the painting today and start letting things dry. Then I’ll flatten them and should be able to mail them mid next week. So I spent the whole day grinning, doing what I love to do most. :0)
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Our weather continues to be a roller coaster as we near the winter. Today we have super warm weather, with highs in the low 70s and a blustery afternoon with some watches about wind gusts. Overnight into tomorrow, we have a cold front, bringing freezing temperatures in the morning and highs down to the 40s by the end of the week. Wearing layers just doesn’t seem to be enough…
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I’m HOPING that my exercising is the reason for my plateau on my efforts to lose the lard. (I’ve been told that muscles weigh more than lard and HOPE I’m building some.) I’ve been aiming for the same interim goal for a long time now. I’m just a ‘bit’ away from it, but it’s flirting with me, just out of reach.
I’ve been doing exercises with weights between blog posts, averaging 3 sessions in the morning and then doing a half hour of yoga stretches in the afternoon. I’m trying to walk as much as I can work in, weather permitting, daily. And so I sit on this precipice…. UGH.
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I have a happy day ahead, and I hope you do, too!
Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________
Hahahahahahah! I love puns. My dad was quite a punster. He was also sarcastic. He was so much fun. He taught me the importance of being able to stand back sometimes, try to see the humor in any given situation, and to be able to laugh at myself. I do that a LOT these days. :0)
He would say something and wait. He was waiting to see if I ‘got’ the pun or not. It took me awhile, and I still do better seeing one in writing than hearing one, but I truly admire the wit and humor involved.
His sarcasm was a bit more difficult to deal with. He would look at me and say, “pretty skirt.” That meant he thought my skirt was too short, too tight, too SOMETHING and that he thought I should change. I still have a bit of trouble accepting a compliment, even though I’m now older than dirt, because I’m unconsciously looking for the criticism behind it.
Sigh. Snort, Smirk, Groan, Smile, Laugh. I do them ALL when I see the Indian Hills Signs. I would really love to meet Vince. He would be a challenge to talk with. I would imagine he has a very busy mind.
Plagiarizing is theft, pure and simple. So is showing art work without attribution, implying it’s your own work. Both are odious. It shows so much about the plagiarizer or thief. I guess it’s done because of lack of confidence in a person’s own ability or worth. It’s the lazy way, the fast way, like people are now using AI to write things for them.
It’s much better to write drivel and have people scoff or create artwork that has people holding their nose than to act as if YOU are the person behind the ideas, words, or art.
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny, Word Play
Filed under Keith Proctor, paintings of children
The artwork of Karin de Haas makes me smile from the inside out every time I come across another piece. Absolutely JOYFUL.
Our roller coaster weather continues. We’re having a warmer-than-normal weekend to be closely followed by colder-than-normal temperatures by the end of the week. A good reminder that winter isn’t far off. Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons, so I wish we could simple toggle back and forth between the two and skip the others.
My day yesterday was a happy one. I wrote my blog posts and then I got a notice I had an order from my Etsy shop! I danced around the room a bit and then went upstairs and got busy. This will take me a couple of days or so to create, so I’m in Heaven trying to do the best job I can. I LOVE IT!
Now is the time to order in plenty of time for the upcoming holidays. Lowest prices of the year.
Wood-burned key chain, initial or name can be added on the back at no extra charge. $7.00 with Free Shipping. See this and other designs at HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy.
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I’m trying a new low carb slow cooker chicken recipe tonight. I’ll put up a link to it tomorrow if it’s a keeper.
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I wish you a great Saturday and weekend.
@Matt_Pinner on X
Meet “Jasmine.” As you can see, she’s ready for a walk in the rain. I’m biased, but I think she’s one of the cutest dogs on the planet. Her family is my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. I’m not sure, but does that make ME her ‘aunt-in-law?”
I had a great time in my art room yesterday. My waking (and sleeping) hours are a-buzz with ideas rattling around. Right now my focus is in trying to create some wood-burned and painted wooden bookmarks. I’m going to list some on my Etsy site when I finish the first batch HandmadeHavenbyLinda . Quick reminder than everything on my site is on sale with the lowest prices of the year until the end of the year, plus, as always, Free Shipping. I hope you can find things for people on your holiday list. Here’s a sample –
1.25″ Purple, Turquoise and White hand-painted, one-of-a-kind 3D rounded disk earrings. French hooks and marshmallow cushion backs. Swingy, flirty, and fun, you’ll love wearing these. They are comfortable and light weight. $10.00.
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The jury is still out on this new social network. So far, I AM finding some wonderful photographers and some interesting people. I would like to find some artists, as well. I’m looking for wonderful things to share with you in the near future.
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We don’t have any outside errands we need to do today, so I can concentrate on writing to you (stopping to do exercise sessions with my weights between blog posts), spending time in my art room, doing my session of yoga stretches this afternoon, and spending time with my husband here, there and everywhere in-between. He completely melted me into a puddle yesterday by hugging me extra tightly and saying, “I’m so glad you’re with me.” Sigh. What can I tell you. He’s a keeper.
I’ll stop talking your ear off now and just wish you a happy, fulfilled day, with lots of fun thrown in.
Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________
Filed under paintings I love
“Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.” ~ George Carlin
I’ve told you before that I’m a slob. I’m not ‘dirty,’ but housekeeping is not my life. I have so many wonderful things I want to do. Cleaning and dusting are almost NEVER at the top of my priority list – unless I have guests arriving. :0)
I use any excuse to avoid cleaning. I can simply ignore things for a time. It’s a good thing my husband is a ‘champion-ignorer,’ giving me a lot of slack, a good thing ALSO because he almost never does any of the cleaning himself. It’s my belief that if you live somewhere, you have a responsibility to try to keep it clean. Are you spouses and children listening out there?
I’m either a total mess or ready for “House Beautiful” to come and photograph. Maybe I’ll catch the dusting-enthusiasm bug that might be flying around.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Alessandra Scolari – AleDeco – Etsy
I am in awe about this woman’s talent. Not only are the paintings wonderful, but they seem to jump up off of the wood!
My heart melted when I saw this photo.
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WEATHER –
We went to bed last night with our a/c on upstairs – plus the fan, since my husband likes to sleep as if we’re in a blizzard. I’m thankful for my electric blanket! When we woke up this morning it was much colder outside. I quickly turned off the a/c. I JUST turned on the heat on the first floor since my fingers are cold sitting at the computer, even with coffee on a warmer beside me. What a difference a night makes! I feel lucky we have a good geothermal heat and cooling system that has just been checked out by a good technician for the season.
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FAMILY-
If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ve met “Monster Cat,” aka “Jet.” Here she is sitting beside me on the computer counter in a bread basket she uses as one of her many beds. We’ve had her for several months now, but she is just now warming up to my husband a bit.
Yesterday she suddenly jumped into his lap in the recliner. She allowed him to pet her for several seconds and then jumped down. It’s a start.
I’ve never seen another cat who likes to play ‘Fetch.’ She has a pom/pom ball on a string that is one of her favorite toys. I can hold it up by the string, then throw it, and she goes bounding down the hall or across the room after it, grabbing it and holding the ball in her mouth parading around with her ‘catch.’ She does this on her own, as well. All of a sudden she jumps up on my computer counter, walks over my keyboard so she can get a quick pat, ball in her mouth. Then, when she has her fill of my attention, she continues over to get into her bed.
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MORE FAMILY-
I had a really good chat with our son yesterday. He lives across the world from us, but we enjoy visiting on a chat program or a conference call when we can arrange it. (There is 12 hours difference – right now it’s almost 10pm where he is and almost 10am where I am.) I feel lucky that we are really close (other than geographically). I can leave him a message and he’ll get back to me pretty much right away. We can talk about anything, and I feel so happy inside after we catch up.
He just finished building and old-style computer – a project where he started from absolute scratch, building the motherboard, and working his way through it, just for the learning experience. He was excited that it actually worked when he finished.
I have an inkling of how he felt because when we were first married, my husband guided me through building a display clock from a kit. I worked and worked, learning a ton about soldering, testing parts, etc. He warned me that it would probably take a lot of time to find the bugs and fix them before we actually had a working clock. I think he was a bit ‘disappointed’ that the clock worked perfectly the first time we plugged it in! We had it for over 40 years before the display finally got wonky. :0)
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS –
Hand wood-burned and painted wooden key chain. Wooden fob is 2.5″x 1.5″ with wooden heart glued and painted on. Initial or name can be added on the back at no extra charge. $7.00 with Free Shipping. See this and other key chain designs on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
I wish you a happy day, hoping you find some fun.
Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Thoughts on a ________
Indian Hills Signs – Vince, the Sign Guy
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs, punny
Other than not “waking up rich,” I’m doing pretty well this morning.
THE DAY’S PROJECTS –
THING ONE – I’m going to move warm weather clothes and shoes OUT of my closet upstairs and move cold weather clothes and shoes IN. This is a bit more work than it sounds. Because I’m finally being moderately successful in losing my lard, I have several sizes of clothes. I’ll need to gather warm weather clothes that are now too large for me to wear to give to the Veterans Thrift Store the next time we go. I’ll need to try on old cold weather clothes to see what is wearable and what isn’t.
THING TWO – I cook in batches, trying to be sure there is enough for at least two meals for my husband and me, and more, if possible. This results in a lot of storage and labeling of lots of individual meals in the freezer for us. My collection of plastic containers is stained with tomato-y stains. I’ve done everything, including sand blasting (just kidding) to get the stains out, but to no avail. Some of the tops are splitting. I finally ordered two groups of containers – one round, one square with lids that MAY arrive today. If they do, I’ll do a reorganization of at least two large pull-out drawers in my kitchen. Having new, unstained containers may not seem like a big thing to YOU, but it’ll be a real gift to me. Out with the old – in with the new! :0)
EXERCISING AND LOSING THE LARD –
I’m definitely starting to feel stronger and looser with my exercises. I’m using weights to gain upper body strength. I stop between blog posts, between emails, etc., to do a set of exercises with the 3-pound weights, and then go back to what I was doing. The fact that I don’t have to designate a time to do these results in SEVERAL sessions each day with the weights – some with videos with music – so I can bop along with ladies doing other stuff – all of us keeping time with the beat.
In the afternoon I do a good half hour of old lady stretches with yoga. I’m able to stretch farther and hold the poses longer than before. I still can’t fold myself into a paper airplane, like real yoga people do, but it’s good for an old lady like me. It’s making me more flexible, eases any pain I have, and having a strong core will keep me able to do what I would like for as long as possible.
Finally, when Mother Nature is smiling on us, I walk out to our shop and then around the yard, usually with a pruner and gloves so I can snip things as I go. I’m still on baby steps on walking, since walking a bunch tends to make my hips hurt until I sit a second, but I’m improving. My ‘kind-of-smart’ watch keeps track of steps and reminds me it’s time to exercise or drink another glass of water. Did I tell you my eyeballs are floating by the end of the day?
NEW FIND – I found a new social media site two days ago. It’s called “Blue Sky.” So far, I’ve found some interesting people. I’m reading a lot, following the people who interest me, chatting with some. It’s fun. You might like it, too.
LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – Hand-wood-burned and painted one-of-a-kind wood slice Christmas ornament. I will personalize it for you with the year and a name on the back to create a cherished keepsake at no extra charge. $14.00 with Free Shipping. See this and other Christmas offerings on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
creativeartworksblog 