HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THE GREAT PIZZA CRUMB DISASTER

So, I am in the kitchen making myself a healthy breakfast (read: pizza crumb cake, which comes in a pizza box, hence the name.)

I cut myself a piece and lovingly place it on my plate, when the lid of the pizza box hits my water bottle and knocks it over.

The plate becomes a wading pool, my slice of pizza crumb is now floating! I quickly grab the crumb cake, pat it dry, put it back into the pizza box and continue mopping up the rest of the water.

After cleaning up said mess I decide that perhaps taking my breakfast back to the computer isn’t the most intelligent idea, so I decide to just eat it standing at the counter (like all good, normal, well adjusted people do).

I refill my water bottle and place it carefully on the upper counter, safely out of the way of all disaster and continue to prepare the crumb cake.

All of a sudden, and without any prompting on my part (hitting, touching, knocking, tapping, nudging, etc.) the bottle, eying the now semi dry pizza crumb, gives a slight chuckle and executes a perfect swan dive onto the counter below, glug, glug, glugging its contents over the pizza crumb once again.

I can only surmise that the bottle wanted that last piece of crumb cake for itself!

Moral of the story: even soggy, pizza crumb is still delicious!

Doug

Doug was confused; nobody told him he needed ears.

sighing as an Olympic event

if sighing was an Olympic event, i’d bring home the gold!

i say this with a great deal of pride, because i learned from a pro. my mother was an Olympian too. (i think it’s in the genes.)

and don’t think i mean just run of the mill sighing. i mean sighing that falls into special and distinct categories:

there’s the ‘exasperated sigh’,

the ‘i have the weight of the world on my shoulders’ sigh,

the ‘i can’t believe you said that’ sigh,

the’ i’ve had enough of this’ sigh,

the ‘exhausted sigh’, you get the idea.

each and every one is different. and each and every one is distinguishable from the other.

it takes years and years of practice to perfect the art of sighing, and i’ve devoted myself to this pursuit in earnest.

Just ask my husband!

reflections

people say they started their blog to connect with friends and family in ‘cyberspace.’  

cyberspace…… a mystical concept to me, of things just ‘floating and zooming around out there’ (much like energy and time.)

so here’s a theory…

in a twisted, seriously skewed kind of way, maybe that’s why i started my blog. to connect with my parents. to let them know what i’m up to and that i’m doing okay.

too serious? too demented? oh well, these thoughts zoom through my mind and occasionally leak out!

i guess i just miss them, especially this time of year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

may all your Christmas wishes come true!

just playing in the studio

'looking for Hitchcock'



i can’t do that

but I can do this.    



i find myself lamenting,”why can’t i make graffiti canvases like alias burke?”
“why can’t i paint colorful collage sheets like traci bautista?”

“why can’t I draw like tim burton?”

and the answer, of course, is because I’m NOT alias burke or traci bautista or tim burton.

I am me. and my art reflects that. no matter how hard I try, i still show myself in my work. and that’s a good thing.

ok, here’s an interesting tidbit….

the other day, husband was telling me about a couple of customers he had that day. in the course of the conversation i asked him how old they were (it was pertinent!)

this was his reply……

“ our age, 60.”

(i’d like it noted here that husband is older than i and even he hasn’t hit sixty yet. so where this was all coming from i can’t even guess!)

this was my response:

BLINK

but in my head this is what i was thinking……

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no!

i am nowhere near sixty! (ok, chronologically i’m closer than i’d like to admit) but in my head, where i am, i just got out of my twenties (ok, thirties.)

it reminded me of the scene from parenthood (the movie) where dianne wiest says: “i’m not old enough to be a grandmother! i was at woodstock for christ sake!”

so…..where do you stand in the time space continuum chronology? do you feel your age? (and i’m not talking aches and pains here people) i mean in your head, your heart. how old are you really?

meet the boys



'Spike'

'the original nice guy'



'Sourpuss'



"ho hum, life sucks, woe is me"





'lecherous Leon'

I think his expression says it all.

pity visits

this is what the kids call it when they come to my blog to trigger the stat counter to make it look like somebody is actually reading me!

bwahahahahahahaha!


awwww, aren’t they sweet! lol

i have a ‘history’……. (air quotes included)

since the great medical adventure of 2010, every time i go to the doctor, any doctor, no matter what the reason, they refer to me as having a ‘history’.

(even the dentist said it!)

now because i have a ‘history’ they seem to think they have a free ticket, cart blanche, for every medical test know to mankind.


i swear, they see me coming and their eyes turn into little dollar signs!


she has a ‘history’ and insurance !


“cha ching”

getting sentimental

this star was the tree topper of our very first tree together, husband and i. thirty four years ago! holy cow!

every year it gets a place of prominence on our tree. just a little cardboard star covered with aluminum foil. but it is more precious to me than one made of gold!

meet mary lou

about a million years ago, when i was growing up, i knew the schmidt family. they had seven kids, all with names that began with the letter ‘m’. michael, mark, mary, mildred, martha, monica and mary lou, the youngest.

the first thing mary lou ever said to me when we met was: ‘hi, my name is mary lou. i’m adopted.”

i have fond memories of time spent in their midst. their house was always a fun place to be. something was always going on at the schmidt’s.

i remember they tried to teach me how to do 'the boogaloo' and 'the jerk' (and failed miserably!) and mrs schmidt made the most delicious doughnuts i’ve ever tasted!

the minute i drew her i knew this was mary lou.

meet mary lou……

random thoughts…..

 i have trouble working in a journal. i know, it’s all the rage. but i just can’t seem to bring myself to dirty up those pristine pages.      
(i love to make journals; i just don’t like to work in them!)

now give me a blank sheet of paper and i’m off to the races!

go figure. maybe it’s the permanence of the binding. maybe it’s the left-handed thing.

so, my solution is to work on loose pages and when i fill them, i’ll bind them into a journal!  ha! so there!

looking for faces

i've been practicing…..they look awful, but practice makes perfect! ( i’m hoping practice will make them at least acceptable.) lol

 

 i have an idea for a painting, but i need a face. hopefully one that isn't horribly grotesque! we’ll see……

Cold snap

This cold snap has me actually looking forward to my next hot flash!

self reflection

someone asked me the other day…….
what kind of artist am i? folk artist, grunge artist, graffiti artist, girly girl artist, sketch artist?

i keep trying to find a label for myself. But i can’t.

maybe that’s a good thing. maybe i should stop trying to label myself. maybe it gives me more freedom to explore.

(and what is it with always wanting to label people? ……. sheesh.)

cold weather always makes me want to bake

and by cold i mean it’s 41° here in sunny southwest (sub tropical) florida!

and i’m shivering in my many layers of socks and sweatshirts!

but smelling the yumminess of my dh’s favorite coffee cake helps to warm me up. (not to mention the heat radiating from the oven!)

banana sour cream coffee cake

1 ¼ cup sugar

½ cup chopped pecans

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas)

½ cup sour cream

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

stir together ¼ cup sugar, pecans & cinnamon; sprinkle ½ mixture in a well greased bundt pan. beat butter at medium speed until creamy. gradually add remaining cup of sugar. beat 5 to 7 minutes until light & fluffy. add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears. add bananas, sour cream & vanilla. beat at low speed just until blended. combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. fold into butter mixture. pour ½ batter into prepared pan. sprinkle with remaining pecan mixture. top with remaining batter. bake until a wooden pick comes out clean, 45 min. @ 350°.

enjoy!

christmas cards

decided to go a whole ‘nother way! lol

FINALLY done! whew!

working on my Christmas cards

and i just can’t seem to get it right.

do you ever go through those periods where everything you touch just turns to 'doo doo'?

(bah, humbug!)