.....and other random stuff......

Monday, December 30, 2019

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Monday, December 23, 2019

Saturday, December 21, 2019

♪♫♪♫♪♫ Brown Paper Packages.....

.......tied up with strings.......these are a few of my favorite things......♪♫♪♫♪♫





Locked and loaded......ready for the big day! 
Whew!

Monday, December 16, 2019

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Infinite Painter

Fooling around in Infinite Painter on TableyToo.

Crazy Cat

Monday, December 9, 2019

Friday, December 6, 2019

We Also Put Up The Christmas Tree

While the boys were here we put up the Christmas tree. 
We don't usually put it up this early but they were here and I wanted the help.......lol.

 Over the years we've added things. 

Last year Husband indicated he thought the tree should have some tinsel. 
(Icicles to normal people, {we argue about the name every year!})
He said it should have ONE piece and we'd call it 'tinse'. 
I went overboard and added seven!
Of course it has to have the star I made out of cardboard and aluminum foil for our first Christmas together. 

And this year we added LIGHTS! 

Now it's even more perfect!


Tuesday, December 3, 2019

And a Good Time Was Had by All

....especially ME!
I would have taken a picture of the table but.....we served buffet style plus I plain forgot! LOL
And of course I forgot to take a picture of the 'aftermath'. 
But, you all know what it looks like......

The BIG  news is THIS!
(I apologize for the quality of the video but I was excited to show off, lol.)

The boys got me a new computer. Son1 BUILT it! With a HUGE monitor and kick ass speakers! (I get the new mouse and keyboard later.) 
But LOOK at the fancy lights in the case!!!!! They change colors! 
And the speakers ROCK! 
I didn't know I missed listening to music so much. 
Plus now I can actually hear the classes I sign up for without having to hunch over the desk and cup my hand to my ear like an old lady (no comments from the peanut gallery, BigBro!)

♪♫♪♫♪♫ Heaven.....I'm in heaven.......♪♫♪♫♪♫

BEST SONS EVER! 





Monday, December 2, 2019

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Monday, November 25, 2019

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Good News/Bad News


Some days are good days some days are bad days and then there are those that are roller coaster rides!

Good news: My medical insurance company is VERY proactive! So much so I find it intrusive and annoying as hell! They constantly call to offer unsolicited advice and to remind me I’m old now and need to get a flu shot!

But when they sent me an ‘in home’ kidney disease test I went berserk! How DARE they! I HAVE a doctor who cares for me and orders the tests she feels are necessary! Get your nosey nose out of my business!

Then I calmed down and thought about it for a while and since it was free……and since some of the meds I’m on are hard on the kidneys I thought maybe I should stop being such an ass and just do it.
So I peed in the cup, packaged it up, mailed it and waited.

It was taking so long I was beginning to think I had done something wrong and they just threw away my specimen. Then the envelope came. I was torn between not wanting to know and wanting to know. Maybe I could just wait until I went to see my doctor and have her tell me the news…….snort……

So I opened the envelope and…..GOOD NEWS! My kidney function was well within ‘normal range’!

YAY for Robin’s kidneys! Fighting the good fight against all the bad meds!!!!!

I felt like I had dodged a bullet. I was riding high! 

Until…..

The next envelope in the mail that day was from my mail order prescription plan.

Not worried.

They’re always sending me something that ends up being mostly ‘blah blah blah, the price is going up, blah blah blah……’ But this one was different.

It said that one of my meds had been recalled by the pharmaceutical company because……wait for it……it contains a carcinogen!

THE MEDICINE THAT I HAVE BEEN TAKING FOR YEARS CONTAINS A KNOWN CARCINOGEN!!!!

So, on the one hand your kidneys are fine but on the other hand you might have just ingested year’s worth of cancer causing chemicals!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I can’t stop laughing! I think it might be hysterical laughter.

Should I be worried? Should I have some sort of test? Should I throw up my hands in surrender? Should I jump off a cliff?

Or is this one of those things where you’d have to consume three cases of the stuff every day for a period of twenty years for it to have any effect?

Well, I’m going to die of something someday so I’ve decided not to waste my time worrying about it. 

With that said, I’m going to go eat something sugary and fattening now.......ya’know, just in case the end is near!

Monday, November 18, 2019

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Finally Done!

Whew! I finally finished the accordion books for the Creating Simple Characters class.




With some 'leftovers'......





I had fun but I'm glad they're done! :D

Monday, November 11, 2019

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Third Time's the Charm

Remember waaaay back in September when I said they were coming to install the new shades?
Well, after several tries (and misses) and reordering and waiting....and waiting....and waiting.....
They finally came and installed two totally new shades! And they WORK!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Life’s Highway


When I was pregnant with Son1, Husband and I attended the requisite Lamaze classes.

After weeks of huffing and puffing and learning all the relaxation techniques we were finally finished and looking forward to ‘meeting’ our little bundle of joy.

The instructor excitedly congratulated all of us and was going on about the joys of parenthood. Then she asked us to share with the class what we hoped our babies would inherit from our spouses. 

She looked at me and asked me to go first. (Asking me to go first is NEVER a good idea.)

I thought for a moment and said, “I hope my baby inherits my husband’s pearly white, straight as Chiclets  beautiful teeth!”

…………..CRICKETS

After what seemed like an interminable amount of time (with lots of throat clearing and blinking) she said, “Well, actually, what I meant was more along the lines of ‘compassion’ and ‘loving spirit.’”

There were a few titters around the room as I looked at her with the same blank stare she had for me and I said, “I can TEACH him to be compassionate and I can SHOW him love. I CAN’T teach him to have straight teeth!”

That story pretty much illustrates my whole life.

While the rest of the world is traveling down life’s highway I’m somewhere else…….off-roading.


Monday, November 4, 2019

Friday, November 1, 2019

Frustration.....


…….when I get frustrated (which is pretty much ALL the time) I go back to my comfort zone. Faces! And what has become my favorite analog art supply, colored pencils.

I keep paper and colored pencils at hand on the kitchen island at all times. I LOVE the creamy feel of the pencils as they glide across the page. I don't always like the results but the 'doing' is very comforting. I like how they blend and layer and their vibrancy.

I don't like this guy but I LOVE the way the pencils blended/layered on him. 


It helps my ego to know I can produce SOMETHING recognizable.....lol. 

Monday, October 28, 2019

Friday, October 25, 2019

I’m 66 Years Old and……


My mother is still helping me with my spelling!

It’s no secret I am a world class failure when it comes to spelling. I always have been. (Thank goodness for spell check!)

When I was in elementary school and had to learn weekly spelling words my mother used to help me. She’d use anything she could to help me remember how to spell each word. Visualization, associations, repetition, but mostly a form of mnemonics.

She would come up with a way to pronounce the words I was having trouble with. And it would cement it into my memory forever.

Apparently it worked!

I have trouble with repeating letters for some reason. Does ‘tomorrow’ have two M’s or two R’s? I could never remember. To this day whenever I have to spell tomorrow I hear her in my head saying, “Spell tomo-RRRR-ow” as she would repeat the R sound several times so I would know it was a double R not a double M!

I might have spell check now but I also have a fond memory that makes me smile every single time I spell tomorrrrrrrow!

Thanks mom!


Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Still Working on the Simple Character Class

I'm supposed to be working on an accordion book to put them in. I will, I will.....eventually!
For now I'm just having fun playing!

I get to the point where I'm afraid to do anymore for fear of 'ruining' what I've already done (like it matters, LOL) so I scan them into TableyToo and play with them digitally.

Eventually I'll get over the fear and finish them IRL but for now I'm having too much fun! (And it's an good excuse not to clean! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
I'll work on their bodies digitally. 

I'm going to call these "Guys in Ties" 
I'll add shirts to them....maybe one of them will get to be 
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH......? 
Whadya think? 

This is Lewis. He is not amused. 

Monday, October 21, 2019

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Frank is Home

(banana for scale)
(Sorry for the blurry pics, they didn't enlarge well.)
Looks like Staples did a pretty good job.
The boys are satisfied.
Whew!

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

This is as Close to Decorating for Halloween as I Will Get

Son1 asked me for a Frankenstein to decorate their refrigerator. 
I had a hard time with it.....
But I went all out and made it a poster! 
Whoo Hoo!
(We'll see how well Staples does with printing it.....stay tuned!)

Monday, October 14, 2019

Funny Monday


One day an Irishman goes into a pharmacy shop,

 reaches into his pocket and takes out a small bottle and 

a teaspoon. He pours some liquid onto the teaspoon 

and 

offers it to the chemist. "Could you taste this for me, 

please?" The chemist takes the teaspoon, puts it in his

 mouth, swills the liquid around and swallows it. "Does 

that taste sweet to you?" says Paddy. "No, not at all," 

says the chemist. "Oh that's a relief," says Paddy. "The 

doctor told me to come here and get my urine tested for

sugar."

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Homework

I'm falling behind in my classes but managed these:
I need to re-watch the lessons....there was so much information in each one! 
We really got our money's worth!!!

Monday, October 7, 2019

Friday, October 4, 2019

Always Being Helpful


Husband is always being helpful.

I’ve been asking him to bring home a piece of driftwood for the front garden when he goes fishing. He says he sees them all over the little beaches and islands as he fishes.

I think it would make a nice statement in the garden and be a ‘no maintenance’ garden with some air plants.

It’s been over a year since I asked and just yesterday (grinning from ear to ear) he said, “I finally got you that driftwood you’ve been asking me for!” and handed me this:

He is always being so helpful! 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……..

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Going My Own Way

Did I tell you I was taking ANOTHER online class this week?

Creating Simple Characters with Nelleke Verhoeff

I want to work on bodies/poses for all the faces I’ve drawn over the years. To develop characters: full bodied, fleshed out characters. I seem to have trouble with that. I don’t know why I do and I thought this class might loosen me up and help get me over the hump as it were…..

Turns out it’s making me tighter and more conscious of the fact that I suck at it! LOL

So…..in typical Robin fashion, I decided to do my own thing albeit with the lessons in the back of my mind.  I mean, as my mother used to say, “Why reinvent the wheel?”

So I’m using the bits and bobs from the PDF’s I shared a while ago and mixing it up with collage and ‘finessing’ it digitally.

I FINALLY came up with a few that don’t suck and actually made me laugh. I figure if I laugh or smile it’s not a total loss, right?



It’s a beginning anyway…..

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

UNCLE!!!!

Okay, I admit it......I can't seem to wrap my head around this new app.....

I Google and try, watch Youtube videos and Google some more.

I even signed up for Sketchbook Skool's Be An iPad Artist course thinking I could extrapolate the information from the lessons and use them in Infinite Painter (how different can one app be from another, after all?)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.........color me foolish.......

I'm pretty sure my head is going to explode!

ANYWAY.....I DID come up with this while doodling and trying out brushes and textures.....
Son2 has titled it 'Dust Bunny Glam'.
I wasn't particularly impressed with it until he named it....now I really like it! 
To paraphrase a well know quote: 'A few well chosen words can change someone's entire day!'

Monday, September 30, 2019

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

I Can Do This!!!!!!

I treated myself to a new app. 
Late night 'shopping' spells trouble for me..........it was only $6.99 BUT still.....do I need another drawing app? 
Absolutely NOT! 
Did that stop me? 
Absolutely NOT! 
Will I be totally frustrated trying to learn the ins and outs of this new app? 
ABSOLUTELY!


If you listen very carefully you will hear my carefully chosen words of 'appreciation' (ahem) for my new 'toy'! LOL  

Infinite Painter

It looks to me (at first glance) like the Android version of Apple’s Procreate.

This is going to be a steeeeeep learning curve……



And this isn't all the options.
If I put all the screens/options in this post it would go on forever..........

Pray for me, lol. 




Monday, September 23, 2019