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the trials & tribulations of a one woman show |
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the gal
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Jan to Feb 6, 2008 How were the holidays for everyone? Obviously mine were overly busy since I last put word to blog last November...! Well, since then alot has happened around here. Obviously, we survived the holidays. Thanksgiving was a bit crazy. I always set up for the Bates Nut Farm show on Thanksgiving day. The routine is to get up early, stuff (literally) a turkey in the oven, pack the car, drive to the Farm, set up as much as possible, then race home to return to the days festivities. Whew! Christmas seemed to arrive far too quickly. About four days before we decided we really ought to get the tree up...! This year it was work to get it all together. We were busy right up until the day then it was all over. Santa brought us a Wii for Christmas and that's all we did for several weeks after the holiday. My parents were here from New York for the holidays. My Mother is 80 and my Dad 77. We had them Wii bowling until 1 o'clock in the morning! They thought that was the best thing since sliced bread and we had a ball! My kids even had their Grandparents working up a sweat playing tennis. Running around the living room like it was a true court. If laughing lengthens your life we'll all be alive for a long time to come! New Year's Eve was very quiet and we went to bed at 9 pm. Yes, we were really that exciting. Since then the renovation still continues. The slate floor is finally finished! Sealed, signed, and absolutely gorgeous, we love it! As for the kitchen, it still needs work. The cabinets in the actual kitchen area are great. Our pantry area is waiting for it's sixth set of doors. Yes, I said sixth. Kraftmaid can't seem to package heavy, large doors correctly and they arrive damaged everytime. So, the rep, an interesting ex-patriot of New York, is taking ownership of this next set of doors to insure they are pristine. I really would like a chance to ruin them on my own. We'll see and I will keep you posted. Other than that there is backsplash to put up, paint to finish, magnetic knife racks to hang, and a stove hood to install. It's going to take awhile. Creatively, life is still a juggling act. Between cleaning the house, running the kids around, cooking, laundry, and all the other things that go with everyday life, creative endeavors fit in every minute I can steal. My studio is in various states of disarray and organization. I can jump in there to start or finish just about anything right now. Five minutes or an hour and I can figure out some errant project to continue, or configure. There are so many things, designs, projects that I need to get out of my system. Still looking for the 36 hour day. This weekend is CHA and I have my list ready! Took a look at the site and earmarked all the companies I'm curious about. It's always an overwhelming show. There are SO many vendors spread out over an immense area that your head starts to swim after a full day. So, hence my list and trying to stick to my format and not get carried away. I'll let you know how that works out... February 8, 2008 Well, guess what was in my yard yesterday?
Went to answer the phone and saw a glimpse of white out of the corner of my eye. Lo and behold! He's (maybe she) is standing on the bank behind our pool. There are lots of flat slate rocks and short growing succulents. Well, our friend pranced back and forth then would stop, do a funny shaking of his neck that would get faster and faster. All of a sudden he'd whack the ground with his beak and come up with a fat, juicy salamander to eat...! We watched him for the better part of an hour. Pretty amazing considering we live in a fairly urban area and rarely see these birds. We decided that he was our February good luck crane! February 21, 2008 As of this morning we've all been to the doctor at least once over the past 3 weeks! Started with my daughter having strep throat, then a lovely reaction to her medication, then my son came down with the flu, gave it to his Dad who promptly decided he had to share it with me, and now our daughter has that too! Sheesh! Can't seem to win and it seems that the whole school or everyone we run into has some form of cough, headache, or other malady. We are ready for it to be gone! Finding it difficult to be creative when you don't feel 100%. I've made lots of lists and been doing some creative reading, even did a collage of my cousin to jump start some sort of spark.
During our holiday weekend this little picture appeared out of the blue. It fell out a cupboard that I was cleaning out and was destined to be in my studio. After a bit of paint, glue, charcoal, and some charms, she looks like this:
Sent this off in a pretty envelope as a surprise for my cousin. I hope she likes it! Will post more pictures the next couple of days. I have new Easter and St. Patrick's Day jewelry to share! February 28, 2008 One day until Leap Year Day! We should all celebrate somehow and somewhere... I promised some new jewelry pics and here they come...
Classy four leaf clovers with traditional green.
Pink nosed bunnies with carrots in case they get hungry! I also put together the distressed tags for the Easter season. Just for fun! Today's task is to do a little bit of clean up around my studio space. Whenever I get into the "zone" of creating it seems that my things in my studio procreate exponentially. Not sure how that happens but it's at a critical point and I can't let it go another day. If I do I won't be able to find a 2" X 2" spot to do anything in. Am I the only one with this problem?
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