My Poor Computer …

My laptop is about six years old. It is a handy down that my husband gave to me that his company gave to him as a handy down about four years ago. It has had water spilled on the keyboard at least three times, it's missing about seven keys, the only keys that all work are the letter keys, most of the number and punctuation keys no longer work. The screen is quite dark, so editing any of my art is a terrible challenge. It's been stepped on, dropped; the original power cord had to be replaced. The new power cord was wrapped in electrical tape, because the wires were exposed and sadly when I plugged it in on Friday morning sparks went flying and the smell of burnt wires and plastic filled the air. And now I am computer less. My husband has gone through two laptops and with all of its problems mine has outlasted his.

I am using his newest his newest laptop to check on my Etsy shop and write this post. I don't like it very much. I have been searching the page for the spell check button, which I desperately need for five minutes and can't find!

Ugh I wish I had my computer. The only plus too being on his computer is I found some cute pictures of the kiddies that I did not have. Hopefully I can find another cheap power cord on eBay and my tank will be back to working order by the middle of next week. Have a great week!

A Little Inspiration From Some Vintage Christmas Records …

A couple of months ago when I started creating holiday paintings I had the hardest time getting into the spirit. It’s hard to think about Christmas when it’s warm and sunny. I asked my father if I could borrow a few of my parents records to help create some inspiration.

I love these records …

Elvis,

Glenn Campbell,

Floyd Cramer,

Andy Williams,

Charlie Pride,

and countless others.

To be honest other than Elvis I have no idea who any of the other people are. I was looking on the record jackets and most of them were made at least a decade or more before I was born. I haven’t heard these records in years, but once I put them on the record player I remembered the words to every song and the order they came in. I love how they sound, a little scratchy, not perfect, just like they did when I was small. I love how happy they make me, like everything is as simple as it was twenty years ago. Listening to them not only put me in the holiday spirit, but also helped me remember so many wonderful childhood memories, my mother baking kiffles, my father lifting my sister and I to the top of our tree to place our hideous angel on top. All of these wonderful old records make me smile.

The record player I am using was my aunts when she was a teenager. It’s a little warn and beat up, but it still plays nicely and the super cool 70’s disco lights still flash when the records play. I can only imagine my aunt as a kid dancing around while listening to records on this cute little record player.


My advice is to put away the iPods for a day and pull out the old record players. It’s a nice change of pace. If you want to see more amazing vintage items stop over at Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday . Have a beautiful Thursday.

May All Your Christmas Dreams Come True …

I’m not sure if my Christmas dreams include a glass mug with Christmas balls and a winter scene in it, but I did have fun creating this piece. At first when I came up with the sketch I had peppermint candies filling the mug instead of Christmas balls, but I soon changed my mind. I hate painting the same thing over and over again. The thought of using red and white over and over bored me to tears. I love to use a lot of colors, bright colors, every color in the rainbow.

So what are my Christmas dreams …..

I would have to say that my first one would be for my children to have a magical and wonderful holiday. I have a feeling that this will be the last year Noah doesn’t question Santa, or at least I am hoping he still believes. There is just something magical about having little children around the holidays, they make it seem so innocent like anything is possible. Abbey keeps asking about Santa and when Christmas is coming, this is the first year where I think she understands the whole thing. It’s cute to see how excited she is getting. She is already singing Christmas songs. I just want my children’s Christmas memories to be as special as mine are to me. My parents always made the holidays such a magical time.

My second dream would have to be that everyone I love and care about has a happy, healthy, safe, and beautiful holiday. My parents are separated and my relationship with them is a little strained. Although I probably will not be with them over the holidays it doesn’t mean that I don’t hold them close to my heart and don’t want all the happiness in the world for them. I wish things were like they once were, but unfortunately I am not a little kid anymore and even magic can’t fix this. As a child they made sure I was happy, healthy, and safe and that is all I want for them. That is all I want for everyone.

Spending time with my husband and children would be my third dream. Life is always so hectic and sometimes it feels like if it wasn’t for dinner we would not get to see each other. I want to get to stop the craziness and enjoy being together. I love watching Michael get to spend time with the kids. He is so good with them, but he is always so busy with work that his time is limited. He takes vacation over the Christmas break so he is all ours from Christmas Eve until January second. I love when he is home with us.

I think my last dream would be to have a white Christmas. I don’t need the two plus feet we had in February, but six inches would be nice, just enough to build a snowman and make the Christmas lights glow.


I hope all of you Christmas dreams come true!

Original Folk-Art Painting... Christmas Owl

Meet my little Christmas owl. He is sitting on a silver tree dressed in typical holiday colors. Hanging next to him on the branch is a red Christmas ball with an owl silhouette painted on it. White snowflakes are falling from the light blue sky.

I am hoping to turn this little painting into Christmas cards for the holiday season. Have a beautiful Wednesday!!!

Our Whirlwind Trip to Washington …

A couple of weeks ago we spent sometime in our Nation’s Capital. It was a wonderful, fun, hectic, family trip.

We started our Saturday at Arlington Cemetery. I had never been there before. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Both of the kids were so respectful and well behaved. At one point they ask everyone to put their hands on their hearts, both kids stood side by side with their hands on their hearts, it was so precious.

After Arlington we went to three museums, the National Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the American History Museum.

We saw most of the exhibits in the National Air and Space Museum. I love all the old planes. I think that was Noah’s favorite museum.

Next we went to the Natural History Museum. It was so full we only went to a couple of exhibits. Abbey and I got to go into the Butterfly Pavilion. It was amazing. The exhibit is full of butterflies from all over the world. When you walk in you are surrounded by beautiful butterflies. Butterflies you would never get to see unless you traveled the world. As you walked through admiring them they would come up and land on you. I could have stayed in there all afternoon. It was amazing.

Once we got to the American History Museum we were all starting to get a little exhausted. First we walked trough the First Lady exhibit. The dresses were so beautiful. After that we took Noah through the transpiration section. They had buses, trains, cars, trucks, a subway car, it was neat. Next time we go I want to see Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

We had two stops left on a world wind tour, the Vietnam Wall and the Lincoln Memorial. On our way we were able to see the White House in the distance.

Walking past the Vietnam Wall is very hard. All of those young lives lost and there were so many.

Finally we made it to our last stop, the Lincoln Memorial. It was the perfect place to end our day.

I am hoping we can take Abbey and Noah again. It was a lot of fun. Next time though we are going to slow down and spread it out a bit. It is really a lot to do in one day.

MMM ...Monday, Halloween Treats ...

I love Halloween, it’s my favorite holiday. Every year I try to make it special for the kiddies. Here are some of my favorite things from this Halloween!!!

My blue wig!!! I wore it all weekend. I wish I had blue hair!





Noah’s first scary costume!!! He has wanted to be something scary for the last couple of years and this year I finally gave in. I bought his mask at Wal-Mart, stained it brown, and attached moss and a spider to it. His flashy clothes were bought at the Salvation Army. I tore the pants jacket and tie, stained everything with brown paint, glued leaves, moss, spider webs and spiders all over his clothes. I think he looked awesome.

Abbey’s pretty purple butterfly costume!!! She looked so cute with her sparkly cheeks.

My first attempt at purple cat pancakes!!! They were yummy.

Noah carved his first pumpkin!!! He did a great job.

Michael and Noah’s spooky jack-o-lanterns!!!

My jack-o-lantern!!!

My favorite Halloween decoration from my childhood!!!

Our Halloween cat Scream!!! He just celebrated his 9th birthday; he was born just before Halloween.

Our favorite Halloween book!!! Denys Cazet is one of our favorite authors.

Lots of yummy candy!!!