Gorgeous Stained Glass
Filed under Stained Glass Art
Thursday 7-18-2024
It’s only 77 outside right now. Ahhhhhh! It won’t last long, but I’m hoping that if I mention it, Mother Nature will be happy enough to allow it stay for a bit longer than she might have planned.
Yesterday was our semi-annual teeth cleaning. I really hate it, even though our dentist and our hygienist are both really nice people. Years ago, my husband wouldn’t wear a helmet when he was riding his motorcycle. I kept talking to him about it and he kept refusing. Finally, one day he said, “Okay. I’ll wear a helmet if you’ll come with me to the dentist for regular care.” I agreed and now I’m stuck, even though the motorcycle is a thing long past now.
I’ve always been afraid of the dentist, even though I had never had a cavity until one last year. I did have braces for a couple of years – painful and annoying – and then my teeth went back to their original places even though I wore a retainer. My mom died of oral cancer, and so I hold my breath that I’ll get that, too, even though I quit smoking some 45 years ago. Adding insult to injury, my husband insists we use the Corvette to make the trip to Fort Smith. He scares my hair off, putting on the gas when I would put on the brakes in any given situation. My stomach is in a knot by the time we get there.
We have made it alive through another trip now and don’t have to go for another 6 months. We did leave a donation for the Veteran’s Thrift Store while in Fort Smith.
I have a pretty impressive to-do list for today, some of which I’ll actually have to get accomplished – like putting clean sheets on our bed. I’m getting really skilled at pushing other things on the list aside for another time, though, to the point that I might see if there is a competition around for an award…
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
The Best Gift Ever
My husband was given the best gift ever yesterday by our son.
Our son lives across the world from us – having created a life where he can live on his own terms, happy as a clam. We use a chat program almost every day plus a conference call program when we are all up and functional at the same time of the day, so we stay close.
I check the chat program every morning to see if he’s left any messages, pictures, or questions for us.
Yesterday morning I found this –
“Dad, I have a luxurious life now because you were so patient in making me strong.”
I’m still tearing up this morning. What a beautiful thing for our son to FEEL, and to SAY to his dad. We really won the lottery on sons.
Filed under Cause for Celebration, Family
Wood Burning Efforts
I just finished this little sign. It’s a combination of wood burning, paint, and pastels. I’m having fun experimenting and learn a TON each time I do a new piece. My poor brain is overflowing with ideas I would LIKE to do now. I’ll have to start a list so that I can sleep, instead of trying to MAKE the ideas happen in my mind with my eyes closed. :0)
I’ll try to get this sign added to HandmadeHavenby Linda on Etsy by the end of the day.
Rainy Wednesday 7-17-2024
It’s my mom’s birthday today. My main memories are of her sitting in her chair in the living room, one small dog sitting in the chair on each side of her, and a big board propped up so that she could work on the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, plus the Cryptoquote in the paper. She usually finished both.
Her dad didn’t think she should go to college, but allowed her one year at the community college in Nevada, Missouri. She graduated one credit short (physical education) of a degree from the two-year college program in that one year she was allowed. Most people thought she was highly educated, due to her vocabulary (a product of reading voraciously and the crossword puzzles :0) ). It was funny that I could tell how angry she was by the words she used – in that they got longer and longer the angrier she got. She could stand on her feet and cut you off at the knees verbally. She did this at city meetings in Tulsa OK, when she was upset.
She had a delightfully silly side, ‘speaking’ for various dogs in a high, delicate, babyish voice, insisting that you react to what ‘the dog said.’ Thankfully, you only had to react – she didn’t require that YOU speak in a high voice to the dog…
I’ll never forget her bailing us out financially when our son was going to a private school in Tulsa which had a big tuition. My husband was working in Tulsa that year so that our son could attend the school. He and our son were living with my in-laws.
After we signed the contract at the school, my father-in-law decided he didn’t want them to live there and insisted they leave. My husband found an apartment, but we couldn’t afford to pay for both the apartment there, our home here, AND the tuition, even with both of us working full time.
My mom called and I tried to just talk to her as if nothing was wrong. It didn’t work. I told her what the problem was, and that we were trying to figure out what we could do. My mom said, “Stop worrying. I will pay the tuition for the school.” I hadn’t cried when telling her about it, but I cried buckets when she said that. My husband did, too, when I told him. He had been feeling like a failure, trying to be strong for our son while we tried to figure things out.
She’s been gone a long time now, but I FEEL her sometimes, usually when I’m sticking my neck out, trying something completely new that scares me. She encourages me to try to be the best person I can be. Quite a woman. I miss her so much.
Rowandean Embroidery
These exquisite pieces are made by Katrina Witten of Rowandean Embroidery on Etsy. I am simply awestruck.
Katrina Witten – Rowandean Embroidery on Etsy
Critters by MandMChicko
These wonderful critters were created by the team of “M and M” (Marty Cohen and Margie Ruegger) who use their imagination, sense of humor, creativity, welding skills, and scrap metal to bring smiles.
Filed under Art From Found Things, metal art, scrap metal art
Art by Cindy Cutler-Awrey
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Challenges Keep Coming
We were outside much of the afternoon yesterday – in the excessive heat warning – trying to get the oil changed on our generator. My husband had received a notice from his computer that this was needed, and wouldn’t put it off for even a day.
To make a long story much shorter, we went to town to get an oil filter, but it turned out it was not the correct one, even though we took the old one in to the store. We went back, but the only other one they had was a ‘comparable’ and was $30. Since the generator was apart, we took it. This one worked, but we were both wringing wet after getting it in, adding the fresh oil, cleaning up the spilled oil from the mistakes and getting the generator back together. I had also started out the session by checking to make sure the watering in our planters was going as it should, having to make some tweaks. We certainly had enough of ‘outside when we shouldn’t have been.’
Today I hope we have a quiet day, INSIDE in our air-conditioning. We have become quite spoiled regarding our creature comforts. I feel so sorry for the people in Texas who are suffering in this heat with no power – two weeks after Beryl. I also worry about the people working outside trying to restore that power. Awful situation.
I would like to get up to my art room today. Maybe it’ll happen. :0)
Have a good Tuesday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Monster Cat is on a Rampage
This is Jet, the one time she has been ‘quiet’ this morning. She enjoys sleeping in the bread basket I put on the counter to the left of my computer area.
She has been jumping into a box we left for her to play in in the middle of the living room, then exploding out again with a huge amount of noise from the bell we hung on her collar.
She has been flipping like a fish, playing with a catnip mouse, then looking as if she’ll bite your arm off if you try to pet her or pick her up. This is after purring madly when I went into the bathroom to feed her and clean up her area.
We’re going to be doing our errands soon, so I’ll leave her in the bathroom. Hopefully, she will be calm and ready to be reasonably sociable when we return. At least we can HOPE.
Filed under Family
More Exquisite Embroidery
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Monday 7-15-2024
Good morning. We are back into some super-hot weather today with a heat index this afternoon and evening, starting around noon and tapering off around 8pm, of 106-109. Three of my poor transplanted tomato suckers are still alive, but I don’t know if they can survive this. If they can’t and don’t, I’ll start snipping suckers and putting them directly into the planter to see if I can get something going. It’s a fun experiment. Meanwhile, I gathered a few ripe tomatoes from the main plants. They seem to be in kind of a holding pattern right now. Lots of green tomatoes, but very few ripe ones, showing the stress of different amounts of water, rather than the steady watering they prefer.
Our excitement for the day is gathering trash and driving it down to the bottom of the driveway. We’ll also get mail and go to Walmart for a couple of things. AND, speaking of ‘exciting,’ my new coffee thermos came with a bottle brush to clean it, but didn’t have a brush to clean the straw that it uses. I just ordered several so hopefully I can keep residue to a minimum. We discovered we needed a new oil filter for the generator while my husband was changing the oil, so we’ll stop and get one of those, as well, while we’re out.
Hopefully, more work on the two wood-burning projects I have going right now. Not sure what the rest of the day holds.
I hope you are able to stay cool today.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Fabulous Stained Glass
Zenigifts.com – Dee Rob – Pinterest
Filed under Stained Glass Art
Alcohol Ink Art
Filed under Alcohol Ink Art, Resinart202020Crafts on Etsy
Sunday 7-14-2024
I’m feeling a bit swamped this morning. I know I can’t control things happening in the world. I can’t even control much of what is happening in my own, personal world. I have to fight the urge to cover up my head and just escape.
The 20-year-old trying to assassinate former President Trump at the rally in Pennsylvania yesterday is the latest example of how lost our world is. We are filled with frustration and hate. We have forgotten how to communicate. We want freedom of speech for ourselves, but not for those who have views differing from ours. Once again, innocent people have lost their lives or have been injured.
I feel guilty that I want to escape. I want to insulate myself from all the bad stuff going on around me. Feeling helpless, I strive to find something that is beautiful, something that touches me, something that gives me hope. Me, me, me. Yes, I feel guilty.
I wish there were a “reset” button. A “reboot” button. A “wipe-the-slate-clean-and-start-over” button. While I’m wishing, I wish for a “listening-and-truly-HEARING” button. An “understanding” button. “Empathy.” “Compromise.” “Cooperation.” A “live-and-let-live” button. What about old-style values, such as “respect.”
“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
Filed under Attitude, Challenges
Elephant Ears
Even with the weird summer we’ve had, the three elephant ear bulbs I bought are doing pretty well. The one above is the smallest. It’s in the shade much of the day, but protected from a lot of the wind we get up here. It’s had several rough starts, but it seems to be holding its own now.
This planter is on one side of our front porch. This elephant ear is starting to do what I wanted, which was take over the whole planter and fill out as much as it wanted to.
And this is the planter that is in front of our garage. It’s obvious doing the best. This one bulb looks like it will fill the whole planter. I just love it.
Filed under Gardening
Spoiled and Lovin’ It
We bought a new coffee pot a couple of days ago, as the first part of solving our problem of ‘stuff’ swirling around in our coffee. At first I thought the ‘stuff’ was grounds, due to my husband’s hands shaking, or our maybe putting too much water in the pot, causing an overflow over the top of the coffee filter and distributing grounds in the coffee maker.
I cleaned the coffee maker really thoroughly, using commercial cleaner, then baking soda, then rinsing really carefully and wiping everything out, plus another running of the carafe and the filter holder through the dishwasher. No dice. STILL stuff in the coffee cups.
We used the new coffee maker. NO ‘stuff’ in the cups at first pour from the pot. We still had problems when we refilled the cups from the big coffee thermos we use. So – we had a problem there, too. There was no way to really clean the thermos any more than I was by putting boiling water and baking soda in there, too -which I did – but that didn’t do the job.
I ordered another thermos from Amazon which was supposed to be delivered Monday. Happily, the guy from Amazon deliveries who has been coming up our driveway (hooray!) lately, came TODAY with the new thermos!
I immediately rinsed out the old thermos and left it to dry, thinking if the world ended and the new one didn’t work, the old one was better than nothing. I started a new pot of coffee in the new pot and got the new thermos ready to receive it.
VOILA! I poured the fresh coffee into the new thermos and there was NOTHING swirling around in my coffee cup! And the coffee tasted good, as well.
I couldn’t be more pleased.
Filed under Attitude
Katrin Vates Embroidery 2
I really can’t believe these were done with needle and thread. I would love them if someone had PAINTED them, or taken photographs of beautiful places. These were embroidered, one length of thread at a time, by Katrin Vates of KatVatesEmbroidery on Etsy.
More Cute Critters for our Yards
Filed under Art From Found Things, scrap metal art
Saturday 7-13-2024
The generator repair guy texted me yesterday afternoon, saying he was planning to come by if we were here. I texted him back, saying, “We’re here!”
I stayed out of the way, letting the guy and my husband do tech/mechanical speak. In fact, I was up in the art room and didn’t hear the driveway alarm go off. By the time I found out the guy had been here, he was gone!
He stayed about 20 minutes, fixed the generator, and left. My husband isn’t sure what he did to get all the red lights to go off. The man said he had never seen a Generac generator as old as ours. (He probably hasn’t seen PEOPLE as old as WE are, either!) So – the red lights are off. The automatic test should happen next Friday around 2pm. Fingers crossed.
We. may. be. healed!
______________
I’m hoping to spend time in my art room this afternoon or this evening. I started a new piece yesterday, but didn’t get to the actual wood burning part of it due to my husband coming up to tell me he was going to look for something in the basement. Since we didn’t know when the generator guy was due, I came downstairs to listen for the driveway detector to go off.
I’ll see if I can get some work done on it today, plus continue the work on the plaque I’m trying to do. There are people on Etsy offering laser-guided wood burned pieces. They look really nice, but I prefer the things that are done by hand. I’m feeling excited now. Challenged, but feeling as though I might be able to do some interesting things. I’m loving it. :0)
___________
With all the really challenging weather across the world now, I’ll just wish you a safe, happy day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Today
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Poohisms
Yard Art Critters
Filed under Art From Found Things, scrap metal art
Drool-Worthy Watercolors
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Friday 7-12-2024
Do you ever feel you’re being ignored?
There are two instances staring me in the face right now. I’ve been trying to resolve each of them for a couple of weeks or more, and I’m getting NO action. NO resolution of the problem. NO answers, even.
The one thing that I’ve gained from achieving the status of ‘older than dirt’ is that I don’t give up easily. I’m relentless. I don’t give up and I keep good records. EVENTUALLY good things happen, or at least I get some satisfaction.
Can you see me gritting my teeth and preparing to dive in once again?
Filed under Attitude, Challenges
Sucker Experiment
I just finished planting the tomato suckers I’ve had on our dining area table for almost two weeks now. They are looking pretty sad, but they MIGHT make it. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I noticed I had more suckers on the main plants, so I’ve decided I’ll snap off some each time I’m harvesting, and go ahead and plonk them into the tomato sucker planter and see what, if anything, happens.
The bringing them in and planting them in cups and nuturing them inside didn’t seem to be very useful, and ANY plants that make it – regardless of the technique – are essentially FREE tomato plants, so I’m excited to see what works.
I just researched horizontal breaks in tomato skins, since I have ‘lines’ all the way around the two tomatoes I harvested this morning. The article says concentric breaks in the skin happens mostly to fruit ripening after a heavy rain, caused by big differences in the amount of water the tomato plants have received. I’m hoping that since the rains have stopped and the planters are on our irrigation system, the coming tomatoes will be nicer looking.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Priorities
Lately our coffee hasn’t been as good. I’ve been mentally blaming it on my husband, who makes the coffee a lot of mornings. His hands shake, and I was assuming that was the reason we’ve had ‘grounds’ in the coffee lately.
I used a commercial pot cleaner, and then followed that up with a suggestion I found on the net to use baking soda. I made sure to run several pots of just water afterwards to clean out the cleaners. I ran the coffee pot carafe, lid, and filter holder through the dishwasher, as well.
The result is the same. This morning, as I was refilling my cup from our large coffee thermos – the thought occurred to me that maybe the THERMOS is the problem. I’ve cleaned it, of course, but we’ve had it for years, and maybe what I’m seeing isn’t ‘grounds,’ but bits of ‘stuff’ from the inside of the thermos.
I have thrown caution to the winds now, ordering another large thermos with pump from Amazon because my husband is really serious about his one cup a day of coffee (rarely two), and I EXIST on coffee all day long and into the evening until all the coffee is gone. (My only ‘limit’ is that I don’t make another pot). It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.
We’ll start using the new thermos as soon as we have it and then will decide if we need to buy a new pot, as well.
Sometimes ‘priorities’ are very basic.
Filed under Challenges
Luscious Stained Glass
Filed under Stained Glass Art
Embroidery at Another Level
I love embroidery. I’m in awe of the people with the patience and talent to create things with needle and thread and vision. Katrin Vates, who I just discovered yesterday, brings the art form to a whole new level, though.
There are simply no words to describe this. Remember, these are created with a needle and thread.
creativeartworksblog 