Will I or Won’t I?

It’s a well known fact that I have absolutely NO willpower whatsoever!

None.

Nil.

Nada.

So it’s a real toss up whether I will break down and snitch any Halloween candy or not.

I’ve been doing pretty well trying to ‘clean up my act’ so to speak when it comes to my eating habits.

And until today I didn’t even open the candy.

BUT…….

Now that it’s open and waiting for the little trick or treaters I can hear those Crunch bars calling my name!

Only time will tell! LOL

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

Spotted Fluffalump with Pompadour

The other Fluffalumps made fun of him because he still wore the pompadour of his youth. But he didn’t care. He knew he was handsome.

Attila the Mother

I’ve been known as a rather strict task master. (I have no idea why! I’m such an easy going individual! LOL)

Anyway…….

I have certain expectations, shall we say.

I expect people to be kind and nice and polite.

I expect them to say please and thank you.

I expect when someone uses an item, that item to be replaced where it was found.

I expect when someone makes a mess that they should clean up after themselves.

And I expect this from my children too.

So one day when I returned home from work rather tired and wrung out, I was confronted with  various toys and papers and clothing strewn on the floor from the front door all the way into the house culminating in a pile of writhing giggling children and their caretaker, I lost it.

I don’t ‘yell’, I just go into lecture (aka tirade) mode.

As I did the ‘mother stoop’ bending over and picking up toys and other detritus I went on and on about cleaning up after yourself,  putting things back where they belong and personal responsibility, yadda yadda yadda.

In a fit of laughter, my friend who was kind enough to babysit that day, looked over at the boys and said, “Meet Attila the Mother!”

It stuck!

(As an addendum to this story, I have to say, I guess it was deserved but having said that I still don’t think my expectations are unreasonable! LOL)

Can You See The Fish?

The theory is ‘the muse comes to the moving brush’.

Um…..

Maybe?

I spilled some black watercolor on a piece of paper. Since I was in the middle of something else I just folded the paper to get the mess out of the way.

Later when I opened it I saw a frilly fish, so I went with it.

Can you see the fish?

(Hint: We're looking down on it from above.)

Creative Slump

Sometimes I fall into a creative slump.

I just can’t seem to get excited about anything.

Be it sketching, sewing, or anything creative.

I can’t even bring myself to walk into my studio!

I’m not blocked in the usual sense; I just can’t work up a good enthusiasm about anything.

Do you ever fall into a funk?

What special tricks or magic do you use to pull yourself out?

Before There was a Martha Stewart There was my Mother

Before there was a Martha Stewart there was my mother.

She believed that presentation was fundamental.

To that end, every gift she gave reflected this.

One year my brother was invited to a birthday party for his best friend.

The gift was a rather mundane dress shirt (requested by the recipient’s mother.)

But my mother couldn’t just wrap it in a shirt box and let it go at that.

She made the box look like a shirt, stand up collar, cuffs, buttons and a tie!

(Back “in the day” this was heady stuff!)

When it was my brother’s turn to receive his birthday gift, the young boy’s mother tried to reciprocate by decorating her box in a crafty way.

Her son remarked, “Gee Mom, you’re almost as clever as Mrs. Cox!”

Boredom

I was bored making dinner so decided to draw a sprout. Ho hum

At least they tasted good!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Aprox 1 ½ lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed

2 tbsp evoo

Scant ½ tsp sea salt

Cracked black pepper

mix  

spread in single layer on cookie sheet

Roast in 425° oven for aprox 25-30 minutes until fork tender

(shake them around every ten minutes to brown evenly) 

YUM! ENJOY!

Pampas Grass

A view of our poor weather beaten Pampas grass.

We have had six inches of rain in the past two days! 

The poor Pampas grass is wind whipped and rain beaten!

The usually beautiful full ‘fluffy’ heads look like scrawny wet cats!

A Different View

More fun with wildlife!

What is more fun than watching a hawk hunt? Watching it fly away with a fish in its talons, that’s what!

The fish is actually still ‘swimming’ in mid air!

As the hawk flies past you can see the fish ‘wagging’ it’s tail as if it’s still in the water!

I always feel torn between laughter and sadness at seeing this.

You have to wonder what the fish is thinking!

"Something just doesn't seem right!"

Upcycled Journals

The Alliance for the Arts Gallery, where I sell some of my ‘stuff’, opened a new show called REFUSE REPURPOSED.

I was invited to enter but I didn’t think my upcycled journals were really what they had in mind so I didn’t submit anything.

Then the director called and asked if I had any more of my journals to put out on opening night because she thought they would tie in nicely to the theme of the show.  (They had sold all the others I had given them!)

 I scrambled like crazy to find some, and came up with a handful.  

The opening reception was on Friday October 7^th and on Monday she called again to ask for more! She had sold all I had given her again and had people who asked if I could make more!

So all week I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off because I had to start from scratch!

I didn’t have any upcycled fabric paper or prepared pages for signatures! And it takes FOREVER for things to dry here because of the humidity (even in the air conditioned house!)! LOL 

I have six more in different stages of readiness but I have five I can give her tomorrow.

I hope I didn’t take too long and the interested parties still want them! 

(Here are three that were dry enough to photograph!)

This one was a special request, a folio to hold correspondence. 

Recycled material and old book pages from a damaged book.

Recycled tissue paper from a gift that I stamped on and stiffened with glue.

This was packing paper that cushioned something Husband ordered. I glued fabric scraps  leftover from other projects,  and free motion stitched.