Night at the Ball

Friday nite we had my work CCG Christmas party. I knew I wanted my hair in ringlet curls. I'd thought about going to the mall where 2 guys demonstrate a straightening iron and a a curly iron that gives you Shirley Temple curls for free . I had to go to the bank for mom when I got off early at 4, I stopped in JCPenney's to see if someone could just curl my hair in ringlets. A very young girl wearing reindeer antlers who obviously was fresh out of beauty school, not knowing what to tell me asked one of the black stylists. This lady took one look at my hair telling me it was long like that was a crime. She told me my hair would have to washed 1st. I got attitude. Oh no it didn't! She told me it would have to be washed before she could do it. I told her never mind! Most of you who know me well know when I say that, I am not a happy camper. I was more than ticked. I proceeded down the mall. I did not stop at Hair Masters. I went to the open booth in the mall. A lady was ahead of me because she couldn't get her straightener to work for her; not because it was defective, but becuause she couldn't work it properly to get her less curlier curls. By watching the guy do her's with the straightener, I knew I wanted more curls not staight.

Ray, The guy who did mine was very nice & very talkative. He showed me how to section my hair off is small pieces using the bigger barrell to get medium curls although he did do one curl in smaller barrell. It made my hair even shorter, but I prefered the medium length that still brushed my shoulders. I was so loving this because I was so tired of my curl falling out of my hair. I

I went back to JCP. Stopped to see my pal Jimmy for a moment, vented, telling him what happened & how mad I was about it. I told him I had every right to complain. He loved my curls. I felt like I was living out the scene in "Pretty Woman" when she buys her outfit elsewhere then goes back to the shop where they refused to help her. I went back into the salon area as there was no one out at the desk. I was headed towards the stylist who refused to help me when I saw Sandra who worked in the salon at the old JCP when I worked there as well at Gayfer's hair salon. Sandra told me how pretty my hair was. I told her thank and I was fixin' to be ugly. The stylist had a customer in the chair. I simply told her, "I got it done!" She said "I see you did. It looks good". Of course she was patronizing me, but I got my point across. Sandra did tell me they have to wash your hair 1st before they can do it. Still mad.

I went to the credit desk to ask for a manager. Really didn't have time for all this, but did it anyway. I told him I worked at JCP for over 16 years. I know what customer service is supposed to be. I told him what happened. He asked if I felt they just wanted to add another service. I had not thought of that. I knew a hair dresser at Gayfers that worked that way. She'd charge you for the conditioner! I told him I didn't know if that was the case here, but they lost a customer and a sale.

Hunter husband didn't take son to mom's after school like I told him to do. I wasn't happy because that meant we'd be even later to the party. I couldn't find the pants I was going to wear with the black sequin Reba top I wore last year. I'd found some skinny pants that had black sequins going down the side of the legs on sale last year. This matched my top. So we dropped Rhett off and we went on anyway without the new pants. Of course I kept on the pair I was wearing! LOL Maybe I'll find them in time for the CAG art party. On the way, I asked Don if he felt like he was going out with Shirley Temple. He said no. Then I cracked myself up because she was a little girl! Good times. Goood times.

I had my invitation but not my city id. I had my matching black sequin make up bag though. I almost had trouble getting in because the lady did not know me. How could they not know me? LOL I had to speak to another lady who said she knew me. Luckily my friend Debra and her husband Bob were already there saving us a seat. Bob had knee replacement surgery, was thru with therapy and no longer had to use a cane. He'd grown a mustache which was darker than his hair. Bob was Santa at Kmart one year & I took Rhett to see him. When Rhett walked in, Santa said, "Hey, Rhett!" You should have seen Rhett's face. Later Rhett said, "Momma, Santa KNEW my name!" Priceless. Wouldn't take anything for that moment.

One of the guys from work and his wife came later. I had not seen his wife Claudia in over a year so we joked we see each other every other year. We took pics of each other as always. My photography friend for the IT dept took a pic of Don & I Donny enjoyed my 1st day of Christmas pic I sent out via email. I forgot to send him the
2nd one which I did today. Always a day late and a $ short. That made me feel good that Donnny missed my 2nd day of Christmas photo though.

I saw the editor of the newsletter who is a very sweet lady. I told her about being president of the PC arts. She said she could sneak that one in because it is something really big! I have to send her a photo too. May use my Shirley Temple look! LOL

Debra won a gift. We never win. There I was with no id and guess what... I won something! A gift certificate to 12th St Deli and an oil certificate at Fred's Tires for $31.95. Don just changed the oil! LOL It costs more than the t-bird to change. He was complaining about that and the screw to change it was put on too tight by someone else so he had to buy a new one. I told him not to fuss at me. I didn't put it on there! He told me to tell mom about it but I wasn't about to!

By the time we got home well before midnight so I wouldn't lose my red boot or turn into a pumpkin, I was becoming a wilted Shirley Temple. My curls had fallen. I think each photo taken will be in a wilted sequence of fallen curls. LOL They were non-exisitant this morning. So the ball was over. LOL Cinderella no longer wears her see thru stacks anymore, but she did come home with her Prince Charming.

Becky aka Shriley Temple aka Cinderella

Took mom to the eye dr today. Yes, a Saturday apptment. That way I didn't have to get off from work although The Hunter could have taken her during the week, but I needed to be back there with her since she cannot hear now. Because she is a diabetic, the nurse used a term I am unfamiliar with that started with an a. She asked if her dr gave her a number what that tells whatever this term is. I told the nurse the dr never gave her anything like that. She felt he must have but I KNOW he did not. Mom could tell she made me mad.

Mom's eyes are ok. The diabetes has not affected them. She probably can see better than me.

While in the eye dr's office I was reading thru some religious magazines. I forgot the name of them. A man who penned an article is a Minister of Creative Arts. Hmmm... it made me think. Although I have no degrees in art, I am a minister of the creative arts. I liked that.

We had to rush to the bank before it closed. By then she needed something eat. I had to get her some sweet tea at Country's. Then I got a few things she needed at Fred's. Then got fish from Rosehill for her.

Will post the Shirley Temple look later...

Thankful For Church Friends

Sorry I was too busy to post an Thanksgiving Thankful Thursday post. Of all days I should have, that would have been the one to do it, but when you are taking care of two families especially during a holiday, it is hard to find time for even yourself.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We were thankful to still have Daddy with us. Thanksgiving was a bit different this year in two ways. One being that we said the blessing over Daddy in his chair rather than at the dining room table which we cannot get to now. The couch is up against it since he is in a hospital bed in the living room. We ate in the kitchen without Daddy. Thankfully my mom was still able to cook her wonderful dressing.

The second way that it was different was we didn't go to our oldest daughters house like we normally do. And thirdly, we went to some church friends's house, my BFF church friend Nancy's mother-in-law's home instead. Thank goodness they were running late due to Nancy talking 2 hours with our preacher Larry because we were still full from my folks' house. Although I was stuffed like a turkey, I did have a small piece of Tiffany's blueberry buckle. We had a grand time remembering funny moments at church and laughing. We were very thankful for our Thanksgiving and those we got to share it with.

We were thankful for all the leftovers so we didn't have to cook. Rhett and I went to mom's for lunch until the dressing ran out. We'd take the hunter home a plate for supper.

It has been a year since Daddy fell and his health declined.

Sunday we went to our church friend Irene's house for lunch. Irene is originally from Wales and lived in Liverpool, England. I took her an Celtic Christmas cd which she played and danced a jig for us! Loved that. We had Irish stew with the meat separate from the carrots and the potatoes mashed. I proceeded to spill my water on my plate and the table cloth. I was so embarrassed. Irene said next time she'd let me eat in her shed! LOL She had two friends drop in unexpectedly. Her German friend shared the meal with us.

We talked about merry ole England. I admit I have based a lot of my feelings and opinions based on what I have read from an English blogger. I will no longer do that. I may even stop reading it altogether. Irene set me straight on how the English feel about he monarchy, the royal marriages and the Queen. The people love her. Did you know that during the war when Germany was bombing England, the queen was a mechanic? I am sure she left the tiara at home though! LOL She could have left the country but she remained with her people. So we got a history lesson. Not only that, Irene has some of her father's writings while aboard the Queen Mary held in an old not good quality photo album. She asked me about that and how to store them. Being a former Creative Memories consultant I could offer her advice. Although I told her I'd also ask my genology friend Anne. After Irene gets copies made, she would like to take them to a naval museum since her father was in the navy. I had dreams of her taking them to one in England and even to the Queen herself with me by her by her side! LOL

We had a German desert called starlin.

Afterwards Irene led me to her double hall closet where she stores her paintings. She has wonderful landscapes and nature scenes. Some I like more than others. We may be artists and do art differently, but we have the good Lord above in common. We are now calling ourselves Sister Artists. I love it.

Even Rhett was impressed by our afternoon spent with Irene. He leaned across the table to tell me "This is an awesome day!"

Afterwards we visited another elderly member who was in a wreck that totaled her car and hurt her back.

Daddy was sick after Thanksgiving. He threw up again. On Tuesday he said he felt like he had something stuck in his throat so we took him to the ER at almost 7 pm. Better to be safe than sorry. Because he sleeps more now, he cannot sit up in a wheelchair very long. I had to complain that he couldn't sit there any more. Because of the nature of his health complaint, we went in to a higher trama ER at 9:26. He was wrapped like a papoose in warm blankets by a sweet nurse. All x-rays revealed no obstructions thank goodness. He was given a shot for itching and we got home a few minutes before midnight.

The next day the poor thing had a follow-up appointment with the lung dr. who kept us waiting an hour before seeing him. By then Daddy was needing to lie down. His lungs were good and we were thankful. If only hospitals and doctor's offices didn't keep the elderly waiting. I am thankful for my husband the hunter who can assist us getting Daddy to his appointments especially getting the wheelchair in the SUV.

Two Christmas parties go attend this week. This photo is what I consider my 1st day of Christmas photo for you to view, but please remember I retain the copyright. Happy 1st day of Christmas.

For the past week I have been thankful for church friends. What are you thankful for this week? Care to share? Then please join us at Thankful Thursday where Iris has a wonderful post at the following...
http://www.eph2810.com/

Why My Paper Dolls Have No Legs

 

 

 

 

I am such a goober! I woke up a little after 10 on the morning of 11/11/11 Veteran's day, 2011 with big bags under my eyes from sleeping so hard with dreams of sleeping late, cleaing the house and the Dinglewood scrambled dogs we had for supper (which were so good!). Nightmare about cleaing the house though! LOL I thought, "Oh, NO! I am late for the ladies breakfast at church! I am mad at myself for not setting my phone alarm and metally fussing at myself. I needed to wash my hair. I combed my bangs over to the side, began throwing on clothes, grabbing the Christmas rubber stamps I was to take for card making. I called Don to see where he was, telling him I was late for the breakfast & I was leaving Rhett here at the house until he could arrive. By then I was hot in my 3 layers of clothes. I dialed by BFF Nancy's daughter Tiffany's cell because it is easier to tell my phone to call her. Most of the time it when I say "Call Nancy" it thinks I said "Yancy"! LOL I usually get mad and holler "NO!" at it! Then dial it myself.

I tell Tiffany I am on my way. She goes ok-ay... and said something else like she didn't know I was coming or going anywhere. Then I said "Isn't today the ladies breakfast?" She told me today was Friday. The breakfast is tomorrow! I had backed the SUV out so I just went around the block as I busted out laughing like a total loon then apologized for waking Tif up so early, but she said she needed to get up anyway. I pulled back in the yard and was getting out of the SUV when Don was coming around the corner from Walmart. I was opening the door as he was coming in. I told him today is Friday and he busted out laughing at me as he usually does! Well, at least I am not late for tomorrow! Yet.

This also made me wonder if I have allowed myself enough time between the breakfast and the art class following. Sort of like this was a test run. It seems I am always on the run.

Well, I made it to my woman's class Saturday morning. Everyone I sent the email to about my morning prior died laughing. LOL Glad I could give everyone a good laugh. There were not a lot of women at the breakfast. 9 including me. I was disappointed at the # as I figured we would have an assembly line going. I brought my many Christmas rubber stamps and other things. They all said I had a lot of them. That wasn't even half. Just a shoe box full and a bag full.

I managed to make a folding chair fall on my big toe!

Another younger girl had gotten an idea off the internet. She brought white linen card stock, red, white and green buttons in all shapes and sizes, ribbons, silver, white & blue snowflakes all to be glued on the white cards. I admit I did not make one those. Rubber stamping is my thing. I made 3 cards. The 1st one is a collage of an idea I had which will be my Christmas card this year. Sorry I won't be postint it here and ruin the suprise of your Christmas card since it is not even December yet. My friend Irene showed me that you can paint on these linen cards! It is almost like painting on canvas. I discovered Carol is very creative. Carol used 3 buttons to make a snowman with a silver snowlflake above and my rubber stamp that simply said "With thoughts and prayers" stamped in black at the bottom. So simple. I did ask her if I could paint a blue background behind the snowman and she let me. The artist in me just couldn't stand all the whiteness. LOL

I painted a Christmas tree in the middle of snow with a blue sky. I used a black raindeer stamp coming in from the right on the snow. Rubber stamps do not stamp well on this type of paper. I had to color in the deer with a marker. I had a "Merry Christmas, Ya'll!" stamp which I stamped in red on the snow on the left. I also used some blue stars on the sky which I know are not realistic but they worked. The blue sky is shiney and goes in outward directions from the paint. Don really liked this one. I will get color copies made so he can use it as his card this year. He can write his yearly letter inside it. The fact he liked it so much and wanted to use it really made me feel really good.

The other was of red poinsettia I had never stamped with. I used an art gum eraser to make a leaf so I could stamp green leaves on it. I was pretty proud of myself for doing this. That card was just ok in my opinion. Not as good as the 1st two.

Then I had to grab something for the pot luck for the class I was teaching at the art center. I was starving by then.

By the time I ate, I was ready and rarin' to get started. I'd brought my newly made cards to show as show-n-tell. Then I was ready to get down to business. teaching.

I'd made copies before hand thinking it would be easier than cutting the paper doll bodies out of newspapers especially since I knew a younger child was coming & it would save some time. I did pretty good esp considering this child was very hard to please! It made me so thankful I have a son! There were a couple of times I did say her name out loud. I said several "Lord have mercies" aloud too! I finally convinced her that this green shiney dress made out of wrapping paper would look like something Beyonce would wear! She wanted a belt which it did not need so we used a tiny red ribbon. These paper dolls I have made have no legs so I didn't even know how to attempt boots like she wanted! I told the kid she was on her own on that one!

I only had time to to make 3 different pink dressed for mine. One is zebra striped which I really like. Nothing was glued down. The little girl had picked some bright yellow tissue paper with primary colored flowers on it. We had no black paper so I drew and she colored a black skirt with a marker. It was placed on a pretty blue background.

I did get paid for the class which is always a good thing. One of our members was not feelling well which was one reason why I did the class. So we all left an hour earlier than normal for us. Then I went to mom's. Mom said Daddy is not eating again.

I felt sort of yucky that nite. I am thinking that Church's chicken doesn't agree with me. After the emails I sent last night, I went on to bed wondering how I would feel the next morning when we were to have our monthly fellowshiop meal. I had some nice quiet time with the Lord.

We had dinner at church that morning only to discover that our preacher Larry passed out. It was an emotional day for me that day. I took plates to my folks. Don & Rhett painted boards on their garage that had to be replaced according to the insurance company in order for their house insurance to be renewed! Larry is ok but will be staying with his daughter for awhile. Please keep him in your prayers as he is still adjusting to life without his beloved wife.

Then I went back to the art center that afternoon in hopes of gluing down my paper dolls. I took some scrapbook papers with me. I'd stamped a pink page with a circle designd in blue ink & wound up using it on a pretty blue page with stars on it. I made hair for one similar to the one the little girl made only mine had black hair. My clothing was just the opposite of her's. None have faces which probably says something. I am thinking I want to put faces on them, but my friend Anne says to leave them as they are. The 1st one has a bright yellow shirt with those primary colored flowers and a black skirt. I was going to try felt and a black cordory sample but it didn't work for many reason. 1. hard to cut. 2. the paper doesn't flow as well on it. I thought of a mom going to church. "Sunday Best" maybe. She is wearing bright colors to make herself feel better; add some color to her life and forget about her problems for a moment. Sound familliar? LOL I tried to use a greenish flower on her hair but it wasn't working.

So I cut a red rose out of some scrapbook paper. The rose was too big. Sort of like The Three Bears. LOL Cindy suggested I cut the outer layer off. Still too big BUT the part I cut off looked like hair!!!! I immediately glued it on white paper. This looked good on the blue page. I used the pink dress with the blue stamped tiny circles. Stars. Circles. It worked. I had to make a neck for her so it was like I was creating the Bride of Frankenstein in piece of paper! LOL Because her hair was made out of a rose and it was Sunday, I thought of "Sunday Rose". I figure the words will come to me... I know they will have something to say.

I am having so much fun designing clothes for my paper dolls! LOL Maybe I missed my calling to be a clothes designer! I would so love to be able to just create art from now on. Praying for a more artistic job.

I'd taken pics of granddaughter Wesley Rose's 7th birthday. There she was on her knees opening presents in a skirt. I thought nothing of it. But it hit me the night I was uploading pics that she had no legs much like my paper dolls from the class I taught & made this weekend. I put the 3 similar ones of the paper dolls up togetherside by side. The hairless ones remind me of women who had cancer. The last one, her hair has grown back! This art might help some cancer survivor or I hope it will. Then I realized my paper doll women have no legs because they are on their knees praying!!! Is this awesome or what? I am hoping to make cards for women who have cancer or had it. Thank you Wesley Rose for making me see this!

Rhett got his first deer Monday evening!

Tuesday night I ran into one of my BFF's old boyfriends when I was getting canvas to paint a giant snowflake. Small world. Stan's wife used to work where I get my photos printed cheaply now. I have so been missing her.

When I painted the snowflake Tues night, I was so wishing I had used gesso first. I was mixing an ice blue with some phalto blue. I didn't finish it but it looks neat unfinished so I may leave it unfinished on purpose.

I got really mad a few times this week but otherwise I have been blessed with the money from the class I taught. I will be blessing with more this evening and I got a small refund in the mail. I am so thankful for these small blessings.

What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then please join us at "Thankful Thursday" at the following....
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
where Laurie has a wonderful post.

Morning Confusion

I am such a goober! I woke up a little after 10 am. this morning on 11/11/11 Veteran's day, 2011 with big bags under my eyes from sleeping so hard with dreams of sleeping late, cleaing the house and the Dinglewood scrambled dogs we had for supper (which were so good!). Nightmare about cleaing the house though! LOL I thought, "Oh, NO! I am late for the ladies breakfast at church!" I am mad at myself for not setting my phone alarm and metally fussing at myself. I needed to wash my hair. Instead I combed my bangs over to the side, began throwing on clothes, grabbing the Christmas rubber stamps I was to take for card making. I called Don to see where he was, telling him I was late for the breakfast & I was leaving Rhett here at the house until he could arrive. By then I was hot in my 3 layers of clothes. I dialed by BFF Nancy's daughter Tiffany's cell because it is easier to tell my phone to call her. Most of the time it when I say "Call Nancy" it thinks I said "Yancy"! LOL I usually get mad and holler "NO!" at it! Then dial the number myself.

I tell Tiffany I am on my way. She goes ok... and said something else like she didn't know I was coming or going anywhere. Then I said "Isn't today the ladies breakfast?" She told me today was Friday. The breakfast is tomorrow! I had backed the SUV out so I just went around the block as I busted out laughing like a total loon then apologized for waking her up so early. She said she needed to get up anyway. I pulled back in the yard and was getting out of the SUV when Don was coming around the corner from Walmart. I was opening the door as he was coming in. I told him today is Friday and he busted out laughing at me as he usually does now! Well, at least I am not late for tomorrow! Yet.

This also made me wonder if I have allowed myself enough time between the breakfast and the art class tomorrow. Sort of like this was a test run and I am on the run as always.

Now to begin living my nightmare of cleaning. So wishing I had a maid.

Your Loony friend,
Becky

Drive Down Memory Lane

I took yesterday off to take mom to the dr. Don stayed with Daddy. I am thankful he could do this. Mom is doing good according to the doctor and we are thankful. Her sugar levels were great! She had gained a few pounds. I did have the doc check her ears but there wasn't a drop of wax build up to blame her loss of hearing. She goes back again in 6 months. He sent in all of her prescriptions by computer to Durham's except one which he wrote out for her. She had to go to the bathroom before we left. So remember that last part.

We stopped to get Daddy some donuts at Golden Doughnuts. She realized she must have left her prescription in the bathroom. Tried to call the dr's office but it was closed for lunch or so we thought. I knew I'd have to go back way out River Road later to get it & I admit I wasn't a happy camper about that especially with all the gas I use now. We went on to the bank. Don was calling me to tell me the dr's office called to tell mom she dropped her prescription.

I picked up lunch from the Royal for us. The waitress Nazi ticked me off. Don didn't want to wait for it. He told me to bring him home some chicken & dumplings. Daddy ate some of the food and said it was real good. He liked the yams and butter beans but still didn't eat much or enough for me.

I went back out River Rd to pick up Mom's prescription. This was the road we used to go to Lake Houston. The private lake for employees of Tom's Peanut Co. I had asked mom if she wanted to drive out there, but she said no. She wanted to get the donuts for Daddy and get back to him. It had been years since I had been up there. Maybe 16.

Before I left, I tried to make him an appointment with the lung doctor who drained the fluid off his lung when he was in the hospital the last stay back in July. The receptionist put me on hold forever then hung up on me because she couldn't hear me. So I tried with my cell. I was put on hold whether I wanted to be or not. I was on hold for over 5 mins & I have no patience. Plus it was wasting my minutes. I told mom I'd try when I got back.

Well, I couldn't stop thinking about driving up to the old lake.... I know I shouldn't have gone but went anyway praying I wouldn't have car trouble. I know it was wasting more time and gas, but I just so felt the need to take that drive. It was the perfect day for it with the leaves afire with fall colors. I had the window cracked. Not too hot. Just right. So I was Goldilocks for a moment in time. I saw some familiar scenery then a lot of new homes and subdivisions. I took the wrong road and had to turn around to get back on Lick Skillet Rd. As a child, I probably never paid attention to the name anyway. I saw a dream house... a ranch style almost gingerbreadlike with a huge front porch. It really wasn't as far out of a drive as it used to seem growing up. Then I came to the lake. I remembered that kudzu and long dip down in the road. All the old "Private Property" signs were still up in place only rusted now. A new orange gate was up. I turned around there at the gate. They had the neatest statues on each post of the gate. It had deer with long antler going up ward encircling a huge urn like type of statue. Never seen one like it. I should have taken a pic of it. I would so love to go back thru there again to see how it has changed over the years, if it has changed at all. I wondered if the new owners would allow an artist/photographer who grew up going there on the weekends to do a walk through?

The drive made me relax somewhat. I felt the tension leaving me and my face although driving on a road I had not been on ages was a bit stressful. Still I am glad I went even though it made me a bit sad going to place you can never go in again. So many memories there. Sunbathing, sunburns, bee stings, dancing on the dance floor to free jukebox music, all the family gatherings, the one and only time Daddy took me fishing because I carried on so about the bees bothering me, picking peaches and blueberries then chestnuts in the fall for Aunt Pearl to roast. I took some of my best photography there with my old Minolta. Rain drops on peaches. The many lakes with the sun shining on them overexposing the photos but giving them an neat effect. The ice cold water from the spring that was rumored to induce over due mothers. I used to dream Daddy was the president of the company or vp so we could stay at the cabin over the spring which flowed into a cement pool. But Daddy was a white collar worker with a pocket protector who still managed to get ink on his white shirts, who wore glasses and white socks because he had athlete's feet all his life. I didn't know he was a nerd until the 80's. LOL But he was my nerd and I love him.

They say you can never go back again. Well, they were wrong. You can go back again, but you can't always get back in.

After my drive down memory lane, it was back to the reality of returning to the bank, ordering new checks and debit cards, getting my credit card renewed, picking up prescriptions, etc. I did manage to cut out much needed coupons I'll probably forget about and let expire. Also I was able to watch a bit of "General Hospital".

When I got home, I thought Don was mad because I didn't come straight home with his dumplins. Like I could. He should have stayed and ate with us. While re-re-modifying (yes, double re!) his deer stand, he somehow managed to hit himself in the head with his hammer! He actually hit his old scar. It looked like it had bled and scabbed over. He was mad that Rhett was playing video games inside and didn't come check on him. He was having a feel sorry for himself moment. If I had been there, he would have been mad with me too for not checking on him. Of course if he had not been working on the stupid deer stand to begin with, it wouldn't have happened. His forehead was swollen, but he didn't put ice on it nor will he anymore than he'd go to the dr. If it is badly bruised, everyone will think I hit him with the hammer!

Don is ok and still alive today. I left him asleep then felt bad for not checking on him. I called him to check on him. I even asked him if he knew who I was like our nurse friend Carol told me to do. He said "Very funny." So he is ok thank goodness.

Another busy weekend coming up. Women's breakfast where we will make some cards using my rubber stamps in an assembly line. Then an all day art class I am so looking forward to where I will be using Julie Nutting's book Collage Couture. I have a link to her blog on my blog list. I have cut out several women's torsos in newspaper print. I am envisioning a little black dress on them. Sunday is our fellowship meal at church. I will probably crash afterwards! LOL But life is good and I am thankful.

Still I wouldn't take anything for my drive down memory lane yesterday. It has been replaying like a movie in my mind. My friends have told me it was good I took the drive; that was something I much needed. They are always telling me to take time for myself and I do. I steal moments like that drive every now and then.

What are you thankful for today? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

May you take a drive down Memory Lane this weekend.

Trully Thankful Thursday

Thursday was a very good day for me. I was lucky enough to receive a personal poem from my friend Irene then have lunch with my sweet friend "Peppermint Patti" as Rhett calls her. We went to Peluso's nearby, an Italian place she has never been to before. I was able to take extra time to so I was thankful. Patti looked so good, I just had to take a picture of her which turned out really well. She had this one perfect curl hanging down.

Yesterday I realize what a better photographer I am than others and I am so very thankful for this gift.

I went to one of my art meetings last night. It was raining & I was late. It was a short meeting, but we had plenty of folks there to help clean up for the show. Still had a lot from our abstract group to be hung. So thankful Bobby Jones was there as well as Lugenia. The locally made metal screens were put together in a square shape which worked really well for the abstract group. It was so neat to see my art hanging there. By the end of the meeting, there was even more of mine hanging! Bobby took one of my originals of an ink/rubber stamping project which he really liked, wanted copies of to make several different prints, said it needed to be used as material for clothing and best of all matted it for me. He told me to send him the pics of it and he will see what he can do! So yes, Cheryl you were right about matting! It looks wonderful now. I like it better whereas I was just ok about it although I liked certain parts of it. He was so encouraging. He asked, "Can't you see it hanging at Hobby Lobby?" He knows of the perfect frame for it that is on sale for half price which would be around $25. I didn't take any pics of it matted yet but probably will tonight at the reception & will send out Sun nite as is my ritual.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the president really liked my 1st abstract I did for that postcard swap several summers ago that got me started on this artistic journey. The one of the odd shaped faces which had everyone calling me Mrs. Picasso! LOL

The weather should be good for the show on Sat. As well as meeting and greeting on the inside and working on something artistic, I will serve as the relief so those that set up outside may take a restroom break. I am excited about the show now. Please keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that I will sell some stuff Saturday as I need the money.

After the last 4 of us left last night, the ever diligent, faithful ones who are always there, I stopped at McDonald's to get Mcrib sandwiches. I finally got some of their peppermint hot chocolate which was like drinking heaven. It was so good I didn't want my Mcrib! Later it made me feel really weird so I had to go to bed. Feel fine today though. Excited about the show.

Patti is supposed to meet me at the Joseph House for their show at 5 this evening. I will pick up some of Bobby Jones' work to take to the PC arts to be hung. She may follow me to the PC arts afterwards. That will be great esp if Don & Rhett don't want to go.

Hope to see you at the reception Fri nite or the show on Saturday if you can make it. If not, have a great weekend. I know I will! I am dressed for the reception in pink and black. I will be in my element. Some of my good friends may come to the art show!

Life is good and I am thankful. Happiness is artist friends helping other artists.
What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then join us at Thankful Thursday at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/2011/11/thankful-thursdaylet-thanks-begin.html

"Floating Fog"

Early morning fog drifting over the Chattahoochee River
floating fog
If I reached up through my t-top,
could I touch it?
Far too chilly to let the cold air in
a thankfully warm vehicle.
Traveling an different route this nippy morn
running a few minutes late
always my fate.
Wondering all the way
what to eat today.
If I am what I eat
I would have been a McRib sandwich
that kept revisiting me yesterday.
Already did my good deed for the day
Sent out a so true quote
about undervaluing ourselves
I am learning not to undervalue me.
Thought about telling all my friends how I value them
and what I value most about each one
but I'd be forever and a year
especially with friends so dear
But they know.

Then I wished there were classes for phone etiquette
but those that needed it most wouldn't take the class
and they would be without class literally.
Where have all the manners gone?
Floating on the fog
Adrift in their indifference
and apathy.

Today I painted a gray egret white with white out.
Happiness is... the endless possibilities in art
and sharing ideas with fellow artists
who might be lost in their own fog of without creativity
or who have lost their muse
hopefully only temporarily.
So thankful I can be of use.
Use me Lord
to continue being an encourager to all.
~theRAV~

"Cinderella Shoes"

I admit I was a tiny bit green with envy
I should be Cinderella
after all I had the shoes
once golden stacks with see thru heels
How did I ever wear them all night
much less dance in them?
How many hearts did I dance upon?
Now tarnished green with beer stains and tears
of loves that were not meant to be for me.
I no longer wear them now.
Would they still fit?
If they did fit, doesn't mean I should wear them
But I had my Cinderella like moments.

I always wanted the fairy tale
and I got a few fairy tale like moments
there and here.
I don't need shoes to make me feel good
I'd much rather wear my loafers, Reeboks or boots
Comfort shoes for my soul
like chicken soup is comfort food for a cold.

I will keep my Cinderella shoes in a box
and take them out from time to time
to remember my dancing nights
but I wouldn't trade them for this life.
~theRAV~

What If...

A lot has happened since I last posted... Mom, Rhett & I all managed to be sickly at the same time. I started out with a sore throat while Mom & Rhett were congested. I got better. Don went to Indy for 2 long weeks, but somehow we survived without him. We stayed with my folks for the later week to help out mom which worked out well; better than I thought. Rhett & I stayed in the back of the house while they were in the front. Then by last weekend, I got worse & had to go to the dr. I needed an inhaler anyway. Rhett & I went to 2 movies in one weekend. The newest Cars movie and Harry Potter. Not much time for art. I am typing up a poetry manuscript for my dear sweet friend Irene from church. Between this and the bad poetry from a Poem A Day, I am writing more now especially poetry again. My friends including Irene and Anne are encouraging me to write my own book which I will.

I discovered a new book by Julie Nutting and have been working on some ideas from it using newspaper print as the body of paper doll girl/woman I can dress with my paper designs. I have taken 2 pics thus far. I haven't glued anything down permanetly yet. Just re-dressed her and snapped another picture. My art has been mainly picture taking lately being sickly. Check out her blog at the following...
http://www.julienuttingdesigns.blogspot.com/

This Wednesday night at our fellowship meal at church, a little girls passed out a small saying on hot pink paper which was laminated. I asked Emma's mom if she came up with the words. Her mom made it, but I am not sure if her mom actually came up with the words. It said:

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

Well, mine would be how so very thankful we are that Daddy had gained 5 lbs!!!!! Of course he blames it on all the clothes he had on at the dr's office. He is now wearing my old jeans! Hard to believe. Good thing I didn't throw my size 7's away now! He could wear them! He could probably fit into my size 3 ones if mom still has them which I am sure she does!

I liked this saying so much, I put it on the bulletin board at work and on Facebook, but got strange replies back in my opinion/book. Like "Think about it." Or "Would you still be thankful?" Well, I thought about it and yes, I WOULD still be thankful.DUH! Wouldn't you?

Then I finally read some words my friend Irene sent me in an email this week that brought tears to my eyes and I want to share them with you...

"Thank you for your kind ways. Your emails are such a blessing. We, the crowd may not say much but we notice. We see the love, hear the voice. Observe the face... You keep giving out. You don't expect anything back. The emails keep coming. A lonely heart is uplifted... The sun shines on a dismal day. Why? Because a sometimes busy mom plods on telling the world around her (smile and the world smiles with you). Yes, it is you. The you that you are is just fine. Keep it. The you that you are is unique. Clam it. You are an example to us all." She is the example to me.

I did create a small one page piece of art in my journal today which made me happy. I am liking putting words in my art now. I guess I am just wordy now! LOL

If you had a torn scrap of piece of paper and could write anything on it, what would it say?

Today mine would say,
"This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us be glad and rejoice in it."
in a fancy font of course! LOL

"I Did Not Think of You"

This time for the 1st time in years
I really didn't think of you
or what could have been.
I did not think of you
on the 25th anniversary of the day we met.
If I did think of you,
it was more like a passing glance
on a street full of strangers,
unrecognizable enough to keep on walking.
Just a mere hop, skip and jump over a date on the calendar of my life.
I was too busy doing other things to think of you
like spending time with my son,
Did I have a bill due?
What time did the movie start?
But I remembered my cousin's birthday
a day late
instead of thinking of you.
Does that mean I am finally over you?
Finally free of your memory?

"Forks and Feathers"

 

TheRAV

 

I figured it was about time I put another pic of theRAV on here! LOL This is how I appear most of the time anyway... behind my camera. I laugh when I look at this photo, but I love it. It is an odd shot because it looks like I have one big eye. LOL I am wearing a necklace my DIL Kristina gave me for Christmas this year if you can find it on my blouse. Coincidentally I found a matching headband at the $ store which I am also wearing. The first time I wore the headband, I wore it as bracelet wrapped around my wrist. When I wear it as a headband, I think it makes me look like a German girl. I don't think I look good in headbands, but that one worked that day.
~theRAV~

"Lost Another Marble"

I awaken after a much needed night's rest
feeling blest.
I begin my Saturday's ablutions
A word I learned from Mrs. Fritz's freshman English class at CHS
and thought I would never use.
She would be so proud of you!
I wash the sleep crusts from my two too tired eyes
Reminders that it is ragweed season
To everything there is a season...
and a reason.
Pulling a semi a Scarlett O'hara,
I say I'll wash the rest of my face later.
I search for my missing high blood pressure pills
Where oh where did I leave them?
I retrace yesterday's steps
going thru old baggage
I find old stuff
some that needs locking up.
Safe now.
I begin putting new things away
for a rainy day
I start one thing that leads to another
and another
as aging people do as told in an email.
Does this mean I am getting old?
I don't have time to be old!
I have too many people counting on me.
Still not finding what I first began searching for
My much needed life saving medication.
I find some sticky words that say "Old Navy" stuck to the floor
to add to my "Things Found at the Bottom of the Sea" piece of art
Unfinished.
I need scissors to cut it
to fit
as well as cut out some fancy numbers
off a new catalog for future art.
There!
In the catch all drawer are my much needed pills
where I least expected them.
Not remembering putting them there.
Feeling as if I lost another marble.
How many do I have left now?
~Becky Bristow Voyles~
9/3/11

"HELP!" Dream

Night before last (I think it was), I had another dream.... I heard someone screaming bloody murder "Help!" I realized the voice sounded familiar. It was my own voice I heard. I immediatley thought of my parents. I listened as waiting for the phone to ring. It did not ring. Later upon awakening and remembering the dream, I wondered if I had screamed out loud in my sleep, but there were no hands patting or restraining me so I guess I did not scream aloud. Haven't done that in awhile anyway. I am sure my subconscious is telling me I need(ed)help or else it was crying out for it.

Threadbare

Well, I got the SUV put in my name on Friday. Everything comes to me at the 9th hour. The payments are a whole lot less thank goodness. So my folks will now have more money.

We let Rhett spend the night with a friend Sat night esp since we did not do anything or go anywhere during the summer. The only problem I have is they have big dogs & their house smells like dogs. No offense to dog owners. I make him change clothes & take a bath immediately when we get home. I have so become my mother! LOL He said he didn't stay up late, but when we picked him up from after church, he didn't eat much and had to lay down in the booth of the Chinese place near the house. He probably didn't sleep well. The kitten may have kept him awake or just being in a strange place. He slept the rest of the afternoon. So he won't be doing that again for awhile! He seemed feverish looking to me, but Don felt his forehead & told me he didn't have a fever. He could have been pacifying me.

Mom needed stuff that couldn't wait til after church Sun nite. I took a 15 min nap which I shouldn't have because it made me ill. I called her back to ask her what she needed from "the store". She couldn't hear. She thought I said I was at the door. LOL So I am yelling in the phone. She still can't hear. She is getting another phone to try to hear better. Surprised I didn't wake Rhett. I get down the block she has left me a message on my cell for bananas. I knew I should have called her before I left the store. When I got there, Aunt P was there again having spent the night. Mom had added things to her list which meant I had to go back to the store! I wasn't a happy camper at this point. She tried to say she'd make do without milk, but there would not been enough. I got a few more things for them just in case. By then I was so hot. The air was turned down once again because of Aunt P. I was getting ice water & told mom to hand me a cube to run down my back! LOL

Aunt P said she didn't sleep good due to her breathing yet she doesn't bring her breathing machine when she comes! I asked her why not. She said she didn't think she would need it. Just hope & pray she doesn't pass away while at mom's! Grandmama died when mom was there alone with her. Mom was with Aunt Voncile when she died of cancer. At least someone was with them. It would just make it harder on mom if that occurred.

I was finally able to cool off in the car on the way to the art center. I was able to get some more art in this weekend. Sharpie art which is now on their website at sharpieuncapped.com
I am listed as theRAV. This time I drew triangles. Just had to do it. I guess I was feeling triangular or boxed in. This really did seem to help me. With each triangle I drew then later colored in, I felt the day's tension slipping away. I drew while others chatted. Of course I managed to add my 2 cents worth in now & again. LOL They watched while I drew. I wondered why they were not working and I was the only one doing anything. I wasn't sure if they liked my triangles. At that point I really didn't care. Then Ms. June told me she wanted to climb them! So that made me feel good. Plan to do more. Will add greens so they will look more like a beanstalk. That word has been cropping up a lot lately. Weird. Maybe I just want to live a fairy tale for awhile. I will do some more triangles to match my Jamaican looking knitted cap butterfly at Cindy's suggestion. All I need is a little idea or encouragement.

I was told by my friend Irene that I looked sad in church earlier Sun morn. I didn't think I was. I immediately told her I thought she looked tired. Quick cover-up/recovery. I told her I might have been missing Rhett. What Irene doesn't know is I have the weight of many people's worlds on my shoulders. Or I could have been just lost in thought. I know I'd moved to the end of the pew trying to find some warmth underneath a blanket. I just cannot worry over the fact that I may have looked sad to someone. If I was sad, I am entitled. I guess I forget that my face is an open book.

But I was optimistic on Monday that it would be a good day; that this would be a good week. I can only hope. Here's hoping today is a good day for you too.

Monday was an ok day. I had my maddening moments dealing with someone I could live without. I am usually not like this, but that person just rubs me the wrong way a lot lately. By Tuesday I admit I am a tad bit threadbare. I called the car insurance co yesterday who told me I have to let Ga know the car is not longer going to be in GA. She said if I don't, we will have to pay a penalty & most people in ALA do not know this. Don didn't. I had quickly printed out an invoice for Daddy to sign saying he gave me the car for $1. I had a bill to pay after work. I admit took a few minutes to look at clothes I cannot afford to buy. Most were not to my liking anyway. It felt good walking away from them. But I needed that time for me.

My mom, bless her heart has champagne taste on a hamburger budget. She asked me to get her some hairspray @ Dillard's. She likes Avada witch hazel hairspray for some strange reason. She has always used witch hazel whereas I am a peroxide person. It costs $16 with tax! She said she'd pay me back. TheRAV uses Rave for less than $3 @ Walmart thank you very much.

Aunt P was still at mom's. She had 3 breathing spells yesterday. Mom said Daddy hurt her feelings which caused one. He asked why she wasn't with her daughter-n-law & granddaughter. I guess DIL had taken granddaughter to see her boyfriend who lives elsewhere. I don't know this for sure. Just guessing. Mom overlooks whatever Daddy says in the condition he is in now. Rhett forgot his glasses at mom's again so we had to go back for them after we went to the store for Ensure for Daddy. Of course the $3 coupon at Publix had run out, but I had one for $1 off. Better than none at all. Aunt P was up & going thru her pill container. It seems she had taken too many or the wrong pills yet again. She had been in bed all day.

I came home with an attitude. Things were not working. I hate it when things don't work as they should.

Don didn't like we had Wendy's for supper nor my invoice. I told him he should have printed one! He had a blank bill of sale in the truck. I was able to watch my 2 Mon nite shows "The Closer" for which she should win an emmy for last night's show & "Rizoli & Isles" I have called it "Frizoli". LOL Rhett asked me to watch the last one in his room. Of course I fell asleep on it as I knew I would. Just can't hang late at night anymore.

I woke up at 5:23 am worrying over getting a tag for the SUV. We will receive paperwork in a month that will allow me to get the tag. I am just threadbare today. I am not used to doing all this stuff. Daddy always did it. Then Don, but he is working & can't. Don isn't as helpful as I'd like him to be. So I feel like I need a nerve pill or a nip or two or three! LOL It is hard for me to concentrate at work esp working with figures. Thankfully the office is pretty quiet. So please keep me in your prayers. As I said, I am threadbare with it all. Calgon take me away!

Then you hear of someone you went to high school with that was having routine procedures done that revealed cancer. She had a heart attack or a stroke while being operated on. The chemo treatments will now have to wait. Another classmate said all of his friends are dead. Made me thankful mine are still alive an kicking!

Then you have a husband who shows his butt but I handled it well. Then I have to deal with more crazies & craziness! I fear I am headed for a meltdown.

Today I am thankful for all my friends who are so supportive of me. Don't know what I would do without them. What are you thankful for. Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://www.eph2810.com/

Something Different

Sunday afternoon Rhett & I were walking by some luscious green, well maintained grass when I just had to step out of my blue St. John's Bay clogs and walk barefoot on it's softness. Rhett thought I had lost it. I told him, "Sometimes you just have to do stuff like this." It was like stopping to smell the roses. I asked him if he wanted to do it too, but he said he'd have to take off his socks and shoes so he chose not to do as I did; not to follow in my bare footprints! LOL His loss.

Sunday night I did something different than usual for me... I went thru my photo books I use in my art shows searching for a certain one. I had a few new small frames I wanted to try some pics in them. One was a magnet with magenta color surrounding the outside like an oval frame. Several photos fit this which was hard to photograph due to glare. I snapped a quick pic of a woman's face I drew awhile back and it looks really at home inside it like it was meant for her. All are ATC (Artist Trading Card) size! So I was tickled pink. I only had about 20 pics to upload, but I did this activity instead.

Monday morning when I parked the car at work, someone had dropped a Correll bowl or saucer on the pavement. There were parts of it lying scattered about. I picked up one shard that had part of baby blue design on it. I figure I will use it in a piece of art somewhere down the road. This reminded me of the hymn that goes, "Bring Christ your broken life...". I take broken bits and pieces to make art with them! LOL I wanted to get another broken piece when I picked up Rhett from school if it hasn't been cleaned up. It wasn't so I was able to get a 2nd shard of a broken bowl or whatever. I tossed it in my purse without thinking. It was very sharp. I probably should have left it in the car as it could serve as a weapon!

Later in the evening My leg was killing me for some unknown reason. I was looking through my purse for some Alleve, my miracle cure for all my aches and pains. I cut my finger on the shard. Like a dummy I put my finger in my mouth. This had been on the ground! I cleaned my cut and bandaged it. I placed the 2nd shard in plain sight in my craft room so I will see it whenever I decide to use it in an upcoming piece of art or make a mosaic. Perhaps I will use it in a piece I have been adding to that looks like things you would find at the bottom of the bloody sea! LOL Since I cut myself with it, my friend Annica suggested I paint a red background to represent the blood! LOL

I was able to get good copies of the ATC in the pink frame yesterday. Just more variations of my work. Always a good think.

Today on Tuesday, I was ever thankful for laughter and friends.

"only in silence can the earth be heard"
-Pete R. Stone-

It is sort of coincidentally ironic that this quote which was on my motivational calendar for Wednesday after the earthquake in the Washington DC area yesterday. I called my BFF Genie to maker sure she was ok and thankfully she was ok. The movers had just left from delivering her mom's furniture. She was downstairs with the dog when it hit. At 1st she thought it was a really loud car outside which got worse. Having lived in Calif., she knew it was an earthquake so she & the dog got out fast. Thankfully she had no damage. Some pictures on the walls and other places were askew. Her sister-n-law Sharon was in town for Sharon's daughter's emergency surgery. Sharon was on the road when the earthquake hit so she did not feel it. When she arrived at the hospital, people were all standing outside and Sharon didn't know what was going on. A lot of people in Washington thought it had been bombed. Genie said it upset her so bad she had to go to bed for awhile. I am so thankful she is ok and had no damage. That was my thankfulness yesterday and today.

My hubby is having back troubles He left work to go to the ER because he can't see his dr for days. They gave him a shot and scripts which he did not fill! I am having a crown done today so please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.

Well, I survived my crowning! LOL Took 2 Alleve and the pain is gone! I am thankful. What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

Quote of the Day:
Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.
~Doris Day~

Our Magnolias

I recently read a poem about a tree from someone's childhood. This made me remember our huge magnolia tree which took up a good footage of our backyard. Back then as a child, it seemed like a tree from the Redwood Forest. It offered shade on a hot summer Georgia day, but come nightfall, it was menacing and spooky. With it's many fallen leaves aground that reminded me of elephant ears, there was always some noise underneath it's darkness. It always sounded as if some was standing underneath,shuffling their feet with the crackling leaves betraying a presence. I pictured the Boogie Man standing there, hiding, watching us inside our open back door. We left the doors open back in late 50's into early 60's. When I would walk to the door, looking out into the night, I always heard movement. The tree was alive with all sorts of strange looking insects. I was one of those fraidy catt kids who screamed bloody murder, carrying on if a bug came near me much like my son does today. He gets it honestly.

As a child, I loved to play with various parts of the flowers of the mighty magnolia. The white petals were velvety to the touch as was another brown part. What I loved most was it's huge center. It was like a big drumstick. We often used them as chicken legs when we played restaurant. Rocks were our potatoes. We'd break that big thing off, pull the red seeds out of it which was followed by a silky thread. I'd pull the thread off, shaking it off my fingers. How I loved those red seeds. I'd put them in my little tin pots and pans, cooking them on my imaginary brick stove on our front porch. My little plastic stove was too small to hold the pots. Later in life when I was grown up enough to don red nail polish, my nails would remind me of those red seeds.

Once upon a time, my childhood playmate, Steve and I decided to collect every every available berry, magnolia seed, tiny peas I loved to pick and shell like blackeyed peas and anything else we could find worthy of cooking. We put them in one of my bigger pots that the handle was missing and cooked them on his Creepy Crawler heating unit. We knew enough by watching our mom's cook to add water to the pot. So we put it on to cook. Being kids, we began playing something else and lost track of time. Much later in the afternoon we remembered our cooking experiement. By then all the water had boiled out of the pot. It wasn't burned black but it was a mess. We tried to get it out with a stick but it wasn't coming out. We didn't know about Pam back then. So instead we decided to trash it without any grown-ups knowledge. That ended our our cooking attempts with Mother Nature. It is still a wonder we did not set Steve's playhouse on fire!

I am not sure if it was because I complained so much about the many bugs or was always thinking someone was underneath the magnolia in our back yard or if my mom got tired of raking all the leaves, but it was cut down. It was strange no longer having that giant standing reaching toward heaven. When I read Jack in the Beanstalk, I imagined Jack climbing our magnolia. The magnolia attempted to come back several times with leaves coming out from the stump. Mom would always tell us to go kick them down so it wouldn't come back. It never did after that.

We had another magnolia tree in the front yard. It had a streetlight near it so it was not as menacing at night to me for some reason. Although someone could have stood underneath it if they could stand the bugs. It still caused a lot of bugs in and around the house. I'd still pull those red seeds out of the core, recalling my childhood. I would do this occassionally into my high school and college years as a reminder. By then I was wearing red nail polish. I'd still associate the two.

One day our dear sweet neighbor Mrs. Mary Chambless was having her many pine trees in front yard cut down from her yard across the street. She lived in the cutest little yellow house with her sickly retired husband Jimmy. They had no children. Mrs. Chambless was always very good to us, giving us money when we went on vacation. From her, I learned how to be a good neighbor, always checking on them. When they were cutting down Mrs. Chambless' trees, my mom asked the tree service how much they would charge to take down our last standing magnolia. If they did it that day, it was a lot cheaper than if they came back. It was a really good deal so Momma told them to cut it down. She used her money she received for doing neighborhood laundy. She wanted to get rid of all the bugs and leaves she'd have to rake or pay the old yard man named Ambrose, who Mrs. Chambless used, to rake the yard.

I don't remember much about magnolias after that. I know they were used in art a lot. There was a nursing home named Magnolia Manor in town. My friend David had a magnolia tree in his yard. I recanted my magnolia tales to him when I first saw his magnolia tree. There was a Magnolia Cafe near Blue Cross when I worked there in the mail room. They had the best beefaroni. On certain days they served it, I would get it to go in a 16 oz styrofoam cup complete with rolls for supper when Don and I were dating. Of course I cannot leave out the movie "Steel Magnolias". I still cannot watch the ending when Julia Robert's character dies without crying so I don't watch it. Just as I don't watch "Kramer vs Kramer".

My friend Bob constantly refers to me as a "Steel Magnolia" because of the strength he feels I have which I love. I have thanked Bob for this honor, but I am not always certain I am made of steel. I do know I am a stong Southern woman and damn proud to be one! I come from a background of strong women on my Momma's side.

As a southern artist, I would love to create a silver magnolia branch as a table figurine. I can just see it lying on a table now in my mind. I'd love to paint magnolias one of these days. All I have managed thus far is to capture it's core as a photograph. Several years ago when I first got my Pentax digital camera, when took the picture and uploaded the image to my friends, I recanated my magnolia tales of playing with those red seeds as a child and how they look like my red fingernails.

I have a photo taken of me holding my son Rhett as a baby at Christmas time. My fingernails were painted red for the Christmas season. One nail is near his mouth. Even then it reminded me of those red magnolia seeds and took me back to my childhood.
copyright Becky Bristow Voyles

Oh, What a Night!

Yesterday afternoon was something else. Mom called @ work but I was on the phone. The way she said my name, I thought something was wrong with Daddy! So my heart is racing. It was only their fridge that went out. She had to call a repairman & told me I'd have to write a check when I brought Rhett. Okay. I told her she scared me to death! My driving timing was much better yesterday on picking him up from school. I told work I might be a little longer returning as I had to go inside to write the check. As I was pulling in her drive, she is calling me to tell the repairman is through. Wasn't a happy camper at that moment. I told her she needed to let someone have time to get somewhere. I wrote the man out a check. $120 just for labor! If I had a business, I couldn't do that to an old person. I'd probably go broke because of it.

After work, I felt the need to get my hair cut & washed. I stopped at a place near work. I should have went to the one near Walmart on Gateway. One lady wouldn't do it. So that meant this German woman named Renatta would do it who is not very good. I told her I did not want it cut!

My tooth that needs a crown is starting to bother me now. So I have to call an make an apptment for that. Dreading that. The last time I had a crown, I worked at JCP. I worked afterwards, but I was trying to lay in chair you couldn't lay in due to the pain!

Last night Rhett & were on the way to the store for Mom. I was backing up when the low oil light flashed on the dash. Then the car was going jerky. I tried to stop in a gas station, but none are willing to help you out now. I so miss the old days more and more. We need more full service stations. We need people willing to help out others. We drove down to O'Reilly's on Wynnton praying we'd make it. Car didn't want to go over 30 mph. Thankfully we made it there. It did need oil. Got some. There is a nice, tall, lanky man who helped me. He had me move the car back to where the pavement was level so he could run a diagnostic on it since the check engine light was still on. It was not firing on all 6 cylinders. Never thought I'd say that. LOL One spark plug is not working. At least it can be driven just not hard. All my cars have been driven hard and dried wet! LOL

So if you need any auto parts, be sure to see this man at O'Reilly's on Wynnton. He told me to send him some business.

We got her few groceries. Had to get her cheaper bread than Colonial but I couldn't go here, there & everywhere. I had been craving Domino's pizza & wings all day. I was starving. We ordered. I thought the guy gave us extra wings. It turned out to be extra cheesy bread which we didn't need. I guess because he thought I was cute or felt sorry for me. It was nice and I guess I should feel flattered as well as grateful, but again I wasn't a happy camper with just one more thing that went wrong. Rhett will eat it whereas I won't unless I get pepperoni to put on it! LOL That guy screwed up one of the pizzas! After what I paid for it, I called to tell him he gave me the wrong pizza. We get a free pizza now, but I have to call from the home phone in order to get it which is near mom's so that will be hard to do. By then I was like a worn out mouse who just meekly said "ok" in an Eeyore like tone. Don was fussing because I didn't check them. After the day I had, who would have? I was hot, tired, starving and threadbare not knowing if we would make it home. I was pretty much just ready to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Later I was finally able to enjoy "Suits". Love that show. It was my good ending to a bad night. I kept thinking about Rhett's fave baby book Grover's Bad Awful Day. I had one of those.

So I had to drive the monster truck today still sighing over last night's events on the way. After driving the SUV, believe it or not, I feel more comfortable in the truck now. It is hard for me to believe. Of course it needed gas! Getting gas made me a few mins late for work. I have spent over $90 on gas this week. I think I will just stay home the rest of the weekend! LOL Luckily there is a place near the house that can fix the SUV tomorrow. I will have to have it there at 8 am. Hopefully it won't take long. Rhett & could walk to the Goodwill to get him some more jeans! LOL

Hoping the weekend will be better & less stressful than last night! Cindy was wanting to do some Sharpie art to be submitted to sharpies.com That should make me feel better.

Music Made Me Happy

"Victory In Jesus" by ~theRAV~

At first it seemed this new protein that the dr prescribed for Daddy gave him diarrhea. He could hardly stand right after he took it a few weeks ago. Because of that, we will had to cancel his apptment with the foot dr I guess we need to not make Monday appointments from here on.

Mom's handicapped sticker expired on 8/10. Rhett started back to school on that day also. So I took the rest of the afternoon off to get that. I also saw old friends I worked with which was a nice change of place and a blessing.

Rhett has to be at school earlier in the morning this year & gets out earlier. Getting him there earlier won't be a problem (I hope if he will get up! LOL ). I will have to be the one to pick him up at least until possibly Oct when Don's job may end again. There goes my lunch hour again. They were nice while they lasted & I enjoyed them. I am thankful I am allowed to take my lunch hour to go pick him up. The nearest hot dog place closed down also. I can only imagine how long my gas will last doing this. I need another job but don't see how I can manage it all. The gas is killing me. Over $50 a week not to mention I am putting over 200 mins on the Trail Blazer.

One of our church members passed away and a memorial service was held after the morning service over a week ago now. It was sad but nice. Life just gets harder and harder now. I was very emotional.

The other weekend I caught up with everyone of Facebook. I sent my condolences to this family via that route. Polly told me I was the only one who said anything to her kids. I am sure she meant on FB. So that made me feel good. We had dinner following the memorial. I took a plate of food to my folks afterwards. I was lucky enough to be able to do this for them two Sundays in a row. Another blessing for all of us.

I had an undescribable moment during that lunch following the memorial... a lady church member asked me if I knew of any art galleries or where she could buy art. DUH! I admit my 1st reaction was just a tad bit of anger. What am I? Chopped liver? Because the Front Porch Gallery on Wildwood in Columbus may have to close soon, I did suggest it to her being the nice person that I am. I suggested the nice man at that framing gallery in East Highland as well. I also told her about the PC art gallery which is open on certain weekends. I did ask what she was looking for, but got a vague response about "just art" for her "new house to match everything". She would be hard to please anyway. I prefer doing art that pleases me. She is having her hard wood floors redone. I would hate to think I did some artwork that she would want re-done! LOL Well, I wouldn't re-do it. I'd just try to hopefully sell what I created to someone else.

I received all 5 postcards from my postcard swap plus from the blog owner who started this swap. 5 mini pieces of art. Cool! So thankful for these small blessings. Some of the handwriting is hard to read so I don't have any links to include for them. Sorry. I haven't had time to send my thank you's to each one yet. Keep saying I need to do this daily and it hasn't gotten done yet much like so many other things in my busy life these days. So I will say thank you here to all who sent me a postcard. I felt like it was Christmas!

I am sorry I did not have time to do a Thankful Thursday post last week. Even thought I did not post one, I was still thankful for my many blessings. The main being that we still have my Daddy with us. I like to think he is better. His appetite has improved which is a blessing unto itself. Life had it's usual ups and downs but thankfully the downs were not rock bottom. Just a lot of maddening moments and a few disappointments. All my days seem to run together into a blur now. Nothing really stands out as extraordinary. I had irritating, maddening moments as well good laughs here and there. I passed some of the laughter on in emails realizing my emails keeps our pastor going who lost his wife in March as well as others. I was FINALLY able to send all my pics from when Jason, Kristina and family were here along with newer ones. I might not have been artistic but I did take photos. I even got a pic of a car with eyelashes! LOL My photos make me happy.

I know we had a really good PC art meeting the 1st of the month. We had more new folks there. I passed out a bird idea to everyone. I thought it went really well. Our church much like my art groups would love to have new people amongst us.
The abstract group met this past Saturday to do ink art. Cindy brought in spray inks. I brought in my black bag of inks and rubber stamps as well as other things. At 1st mine was not really going anywhere. I wasn't sure about these spray inks working well either. As always we each were doing different things. Cindy came up with 2 really neat pieces as did Lugenia. I love offering my suggestions.

I told the other artists I had wanted to start doing art that was more of a religious nature. Because I kept seeing V's in my art, I went with them. I played some of them up. I used my V music note stamp. I also used my many key stamps, a brown inked maple leaf, my tiny raven stamp as my signature, etc. As always I found hearts in my art. LOL Because my favorite hymn is "Victory In Jesus", I knew that was my title for it. The colors are bit different.... browns, blues and sage green. I have a black cross in the center. I was pretty pleased with it. I did a 2nd one but I prefer this one. The second one is more browns and the sage with zebra like print and a broken newspaper word rubber stamp throughout it with a big brown heart at it's center.

Rhett even did one using my brown ink & stamps. His was more of a religious nature too. He came up with some neat ideas. When he used the broken newspaper word rubber stamp, he marked through some of the words. I would never have thought of that. So he blew me away once again. On certain background stamps, he wrote words across them. I was proud of him. I also must learn to just let him do art his way not my way. I thought he was over-doing the word stamp, told him to not over-do, but later realized it worked.

I showed the original to some church members Sunday and they all liked it.

I am thankful I got to see my Aunt Pearl this weekend. It seems her palsy is worse. I just wanted to feed her myself. She is as skinny as Daddy now.

I was able to pick up pics I printed at Wolf camera this week and will have more to pick up this afternoon. Their copies are 7 cents each on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. Their 5x7's are only 57 cents! I didn't have time to do 5x7's this week. Maybe next week... I am able to get copies for our preacher to enjoy as well as others. I gave a 4x6 "Victory In Jesus" to Velvet last night at church.

I am thankful my parents raised me right. I am thankful I would be a better house guest. I would not dare say, "I always have a banana and chocolate milk for breakfast" knowing those in the house are unable to go to a grocery store now. Or want to take chocolate milk from an elderly person who needs it to take his medicine.

Please keep our friend Joey who Don worked for a few months ago in your prayers. He had to have gall bladder surgery. I think they had to operate the old fashioned way. His had turned gangrenous. Thank you. Hopefully my BFF arrived back at home safely today.

Today I am thankful I got some of my art to upload on this post. It is about time!

This week I have enjoyed listening to Pandora radio. This is dating me here but I heard the song "500 Miles" by Johnny Rivers. I have not heard that song in probably 20 years. I have it on a Sonny & Cher album. I prefer Cher's version to Johnny's though. So I went back to the 60's. By listening to this radio, I learned I am more than a little bit country. LOL I heard songs from when Don and I were dating and going country line dancing. Even found Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" on there! So this week music made me happy and I am thankful. What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then please join us at Thankful Thursday at the following....
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

PS. I added the words "Victory In Jesus" to the photo of this art.

"Artful License"

ART in front of me
ART to my left
as I shift lanes.
ART passing me by
ART passing by me.
I smile with reassurance.
Almost nearly surrounded by ART
Always.
ART surrounds me nearly
Surprised I don't sur-
pass myself
BKY
No one gets my jokes but me
Thankful I can laugh at myself
Taking artful license
with license plates
ART
BKY
ARV is just a variation of RAV
That's me.
Just another sign...
to do ART.
I need no license to create
but these signs remind me
I am doing what I should be doing...
ART.
Then I was behind ART again!
~Becky Bristow Voyles aka theRAV~

Currently reading I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. It is a book about a teenage girl with a huge crush on David Cassidy. Ah, it brings back memories....

4th Art Show

On Friday, I received the 1st postcard from the postcard swap I participated in. It was a wonderful photo of a flower. I think it is an Iris. On the back, it had
The2Buds Inc. then www.THE2BUDS.com It is mainly a postcard supply link. Nothing personal about the sender of the postcard.

It was another very, very busy weekend for me. Jason & family was here from Indy. We all went out to eat Friday nite at River City Grill. The food was ok. The company was great. In the middle of the night I had some bladder pain, throbbing and spasms. I went to the bathroom and went back to sleep.

Elisa, Kristina & I went to Market Days on Broadway. I was recruiting for the PC arts while there! Not many vendors were set up. The girls found this wonderful stuff... a lady had cake on a stick for $1 but if you bought a dozen, you got 2 free. We met up with Stephanie. Kristina bought more cake pops. The lemon was the best. Then we headed to the other Market Days at the Landings which is not as good as Market Days on Broadway. They got some stuff there. It is all out in the open hot sun which made me so thankful for the shading at the downtown market days.

Next we headed to Front Porch of the South. They couldn't believe how big it was. I took a lot of pics so I was in heaven. I didn't buy much. A roll of pink see thru ribbon which I tried to stamp on later. It didn't work but I will use the ribbon for something else somewhere down the road. I found a cute little wall plaque that had an old postcard image on it with a knob for $3. I already have it up on the wall. I thought it was serendipity that I found it. The girls were waiting for me near a Tiki bar Elisa wanted for their pool area. Kristina got a lot of stuff. I did good. I spent the least but was rich with photos.

We ate at B Merrel's. I had not been there in years & years & years. By then I wasn't feeling well. I felt a bladder infection coming on. I didn't have any Cypro with me so I took 2 Alleve for the pain which helped and I was thankful. Luckily I was able to order a grilled cheese from the kids menu. I drank water & got cran-grape juice later.

Elisa went back to buy the tiki bar. I went in search of small carrying case similar to one our preacher has to carry his paints inside. The one I saw was being used to hold $1 items. It had no sales tags on it to my disappointment. I did find a deck of cards that had a neat design on them I can use in my art for 50 cents.

Things bought at The Front Porch $4.50 plus tax
A Saturday spent with my girls..... priceless

Saturday I received my 2nd postcard in the postcard swap.

Another person got one of my postcards from the postcard swap I participated in last month and thanked me for it. She sent a link to her flicker photostream. She has some amazing photos. Thought you might want to take a look. I have added her to my side bar of blogs. Here is the link...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58394948@N03/

I was able to lay down for awhile before we went to have supper at Elisa's. I took my new bathing suit I got for Gulf Shores but didn't go swimming. I was content just sitting by the pool. Funny that it is cooler there at Elisa's pool than here at home.

Sunday was the art show. We took stuff to Elisa's after church as Jason & family were leaving at 2 which was when the show started so we didn't get to the show until after 2. We should have gotten something to drink when we arrived because they ran out of cups! My art was hanging above Ms June's art that she created from the class I taught. I told her to submit that one. Unfortunately neither of us won anything. I admit I was disappointed.

The painting of the horse that the white frame was altered to match the horse's coat won a green ribbon. I forget the exact title of the ribbon. Upon closer look, an Indian and a feather appeared in the horses coat so that really was cool. It was deserving of an award. The eye reminded me of the close up photo I took of a horse's blue eye. So I it is probably good that I did not submit my horse photo! LOL. It would have been too much alike. This altered frame did make me wonder if I had used the other frame and painted the dots, if it would have changed my chances of winning? Who knows? Probably not. Esp since the photo I saw when I turned mine in won an award. A maroon ribbon. It was taken by a lady I had never seen or heard of before. Didn't even know she was in the guild.

As always there were some really good art hanging. There was a flower made out of bark and painted to look like a magnolia. This was all on a piece of cardboard box then framed really well! Neat idea. I would have given it an award for just being different. A most excellent painting of water lilies that look so realistic. It should have won something instead of the same ole ones winning. There was a large one called Wasp Nest that won a ribbon that should not have won! Then a guy I have never seen before won for painting a Singer sewing machine! The pencil drawings were most excellent. Two of them won awards & deserved them. There was a large blue woman called "Removed" that was thought awesome by Rhett & I. Another artist's small portrait in perhaps pencil evoked an emotion much like photos of Carson McCulloughs does me.

There were new categories. Paper was one of them. I found it very irritating that these artists that have submitted work for years suddenly all had "watercolor on paper" on their info hanging beside their work. In the past, it simply read "watercolor" unless it was on canvas. I heard from another artist that there were some very mad artists at the show.

Then there was one which won that had wax poured over it! Go figure. I know this is supposed to be a new technique to do now, but I wouldn't buy it or have it in my home! That artist probably would not have mine either! LOL

Again I admit I was very disappointed I didn't win anything. In fact, it colored my mood the rest of the day. I know it shouldn't be about winning. Since I had Rhett, I realized how competitive I am. I know I should be thankful just to be apart of an art show and I am.

Daddy had a dr's appointment for a follow-up with his regular dr. The wheelchair is real sweaty chore, but somehow we managed. His dr prescribed vitamin d tablets as well as a liquid protein to be added to his Ensure. Medicure wont' pay for this liquid. Luckily & thankfully home health care can do the blood work at home so he doesn't have to go in to have that done in the office. He will have to go back in a month. I felt like I accomplished something's. One step forward, two steps back with other issues or you hit a brick wall.

Then we went to Wednesday night Bible class. I wasn't exactly prepared, but figured I could wing it. It was just Rhett and I. Rhett asked me if I noticed the wall I had decorated had been taken down. Once again I was not consulted about the room. I admit I was mad especially because of the scrapbook birds I bought with my money and others I made from the template. I walked down to the storage room only to find the background paper had been wadded to fit into a shelf slot! It is doubtful it can be reused. Who would want to use wrinkly paper? I searched the other shelves. Luckily and thankful I found my birds. No care was taken when the were removed. They were simply ripped down so now they have tears in them. Holy birds! LOL Not a happy camper about this. I would never do that to someone else's stuff.

So I made lemonade. I took notebook paper, traced one of the birds facing one direction and was able to trace another outline below it. Two birds on the page. On one I wrote the word "SOAR" and the next I wrote "FLY". They are childlike, but still they are art which I had not done in awhile. Because of the lines, I knew I wanted to write something inside the birds. So I did two more. Inside the 1st bird I wrote this...

"8/3/11
Today was hot!! Sweltering. Worked. Paid a bill. Ate. Dr's appointment. Wrestled with a wheelchair and won! Accomplished somethings. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Always hitting a wall. Obstacles everywhere. Nothing is ever easy anymore. Paid more bills. Not my own. Filled scripts. Tried a new peachy lemonade. Liked it which surprised me. Needed a shower. Just too hot. No respite in sight. Just another day in the life of me. Boring. Not. Not artful. Maddening moments. Added more heat."

on the 2nd bird...
"Then when in a place of peace you find your ideas have been torn down, cast aside like trash! Waded up and discarded. Left wrinkled. You thought your scrapbook birds you paid $ for, made & cut out had been thrown away, but thankfully they were found, but wounded. Angry that others care not as I do about things. Yet out of my anger came this new bird idea. Not so angry birds now. Calming down. Art does this 4 me. -RAV"

"CATHARSIS" written at the bottom.

It got good to me so I did a 3rd set of birds. On the top bird, I wrote the following...

"Write your cares, burdens, woes and problems on a bird. It will make you feel better. The burdens will lessen somewhat. You will have created art. Art soothes the tired soul. Any soul tired or not. The bird brings peace to a troubled day. Troubles fly away on the wings of a dove."

This brought to mind the song "On the Wings of a Dove" which has always been one of my favorites. Despite all the maddening moments of the day, I was thankful for this artful blessing I received from above. What are you thankful for this week? Care to share your thankfulness? Then please join us at the following....
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
where Laurie talks about the heat.

The Frame and the Hanging

I am thankful for this past last weekend where I got to see my 2 best friends in the world. Things did not always goes according to our plans, but God laughs when we make plans. I didn't take as many pics as I normally do and I regret that now. But I did have a few really good ones that I wouldn't trade for all the crab legs in the sea.

All weekend long I was working on framing my artwork for the upcoming art show. I kept thinking about that one frame at Michael's which came with a matching mat. Because I am doing another rainy day shot for the art show, I kept thinking I could paint the dots made in the mat as well as the frame to match the colors of the dots of light in my photo. I was hoping the frame was still on sale. After work yesterday, I picked up my photo from Wolf camera. I had the frame Rhett picked out at Hobby Lobby in the back of Daddy's SUV. I didn't really try it with that frame. Instead I drove on over to Michael's and tried it in their frame. Because it came with a mat, it was much larger & heavier so I would be going bigger. It would be one of the largest things I have had framed in a long, long time. I bought it anyway. Then I drove back to Wolf camera. I decided to ask those working there their professional opinion. I had to make 2 trips carrying the frames in & out so I was getting a work out. I was so ready for a shower by then.

First of all, the owner who I took a class with at Columbus College back in the day, complimented my photo. He said it looked like a French watercolor impressionist! WOW!!!! The other two ladies loved it & remembered my "Rainy Day in Ga" from last year. We tried it with Rhett's frame 1st & everyone fell in love including me. It was just perfect for it. So the new one set to the side was nayed. When I explained what I wanted to do with the frame, one lady asked me why would I want to do that? LOL So the photo was cut down 4 times to fit the frame. All I have to do now it get the backing put on it.

Unfortunately I couldn't go to the nice little man for the backing on my artwork. I had to pay a higher price elsewhere but I was lucky enough to get it done immediately so I was thankful for that small blessing.

Lesson learned: I should listen to my son Rhett and I will from now on. This is not the 1st time he has given me good advice. I must learn to follow it & trust his judgement on things artistic. I can't wait for the art show now!

Rhett tried the pulled pork sandwich at Subway last night. I took a bite. It was heavenly! Try it. Hopefully they will keep it on the menu forever.

Larry, I know Katherine was up in heaven laughing at me yesterday thinking this was a typical Becky moment.

Art. It must be done.
Art. It must be framed.

The Hanging

Rhett had a honking fever blister yesterday morning. The biggest one he has had of his entire life thus far. His upper lip was so swollen. It looked much like mine did the time I got badly sunburned. I took him to the pharmacist who suggested I take him to the dr which I did. I had no idea the dr would take a 26 gauge needle to pop it! The tiny needle had a knob on the end of it. She showed it to Rhett. You should have seen him looking at the needle... I just knew he was going to pass out! Instead he squeezed my hand so hard I cried out. Later he told me he "didn't cry because he is a man now." We had to get Abrevia which costs $20 for a tiny tube. I later found a $3 off coupon for it after we bought it! The story of my life... hours late and $3 short! LOL

Yesterday was hanging day. It is my 4th Hanging. LOL I turned in my artwork for the art show. I was able to turn it in earlier so I didn't get to see as many of the other artists' works. I felt really good about my art. There were not that many in the photography subject so I thought I had good chance in that area even though there was one pretty spectacular photograph taken from afar. It would be my competition yet I felt confident about mine. So much so that I called my friend Anne to tell her about it. Anne has a good feeling about this art show. From her to God's ear. I thought of going back later just to see what else was to be in the show, but Anne's advice was to just leave it alone and go on. After all I would be seeing it on Sunday. My talk with Anne made me feel so good. She says she can't wait to see what I have come up with next. What has the RAV done now. WHTRDN. LOL

Art. It must be hung.

I read a motivating article in a local small newspaper. To make a long story short, the writer begins each day with WOE (Words of Encouragement). I really liked this idea. Although it is what I do everyday or try to do. Once again I was told how my emails keep others going and how much it encourages them. I love that I can do that for others. May you give or receive WOE that you need.

What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then join us at Thankful Thursday at Lynn's place at the following....
http://www.spirituallyunequalmarriage.com/my_weblog/