Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Off for a bit

I have no Internet until Dec. 8th, so won't be blogging much until then.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S National Ave,Springfield,United States

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Losing ourselves in art

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Thomas Merton

Last night, I went to Sheri’s for hooking…..I was so “lost in my art” that I forgot to take any pictures, so go bug Sheri and beg her to blog! Tell her you want to see pictures of her witch doll….it’s SO ADORABLE!

Here’s a little update on the “Redbud Runner”…..it’s getting closer to being finished.  Once I prep my stuffing for tomorrow, perhaps I’ll sit down and “go to town” on it while I wash all the dog bedding….yes, the dogs have a bed or two in every room of our house! That’s lots of dog beds to wash…..don’t want everyone coming over to Thanksgiving tomorrow and having our house smell like a zoo!

Above you can see Cleopatra finishing up her breakfast….she loves to dine in the “drawing room”!


Last night I worked on “filling in” the redbud leaves….I think I have 7 more to hook….perhaps I’ll finish them today.

AT&T is working on “dry looping” our service for internet when we get rid of the land-line….we may have no internet service for a couple of days….not sure when this will happen, but if I seem AWOL all of a sudden, that’s the problem.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Back in order

Ahhhh, my life is slowing getting back in order…last night I got a new iPhone and we decided to take the plunge and get rid of our land line…..it just seems silly to be paying a monthly charge for that, when we really don’t use it that often.

Stopped by the library on the way home from supper last night and picked up a few books to read.

“Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes”

and “The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes”

I felt like I was needing something light-hearted and fun to read.  I started the first one last night and so far it’s been very entertaining.

If you need a good book to read, you might head over to Deanne Fitzpatrick’s blog and look at all the suggestions she is getting from readers of her blog. Now I’ll always have ideas for books to read!

 

I’m going hooking tonight at Sheri’s, so can’t wait to share pictures with you from that when I return.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Planting a seed

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson~


Today, I’m hoping to plant a seed with the hooking artists who

read my little blog.

What would happen if you started treating your rugs like art?

Yes, I know, some rugs are meant and made to go on the floors to add

comfort to our lives, but some are meant to go on the walls to add comfort to

our souls.

If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the turkey rug on the wall,

but you can also catch a glimpse of another rug on the floor, to the left of the chair.

A while back, when I was working out a solution of hanging the

odd shaped garden rugs, HERE, I had the chance to really hash

things out with Dan at Pelican Gallery (framing and archival savant)

about different ways to hang rugs.  He brought up the idea of stitching

the rugs to a gallery wrapped canvas as well as SO MANY other ideas.

This is the result of that conversation.

He measured my rug and then made a custom wrapped canvas for it and we

decided that the rug would really POP, if the canvas was painted black.

He did all of the construction and painting for me and then sent me home with a

blank, black canvas.

Honestly, it stood in my rug hooking room for a month or so before

I had the guts to dive in and stitch the rug to the canvas.

I tried to take pictures of the stitching, but the stitching is hard to see because I used

fishing line to do the stitching.

The best way to describe it, is it is sort of sewn on like a hand-tied quilt.

By attaching it in this manner, there is no one part of the rug that gets

stressed from the tension of the tying.

What I like best about this technique, is that you can have just one nail or hook on the wall

to hang a rather large rug.

I hope this plants a seed with a few of you who are out

there looking for a better way to hang your artful rugs.

We work so hard and put so much time and effort into making our rugs,

I think it’s high time we start hanging them with as much care.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Disappointed

…..in the recipes I tried last night.

Last night I was all jazzed because I was going to try a few new recipes that sounded really great and I took pics as I made them, because I thought they sounded fantastic……..

Well, the baked chicken parmesan was okay, I mean, it was okay….if you want to try it yourself you can go HERE to see the recipe.  Their recipe used chicken breasts, I used chicken tenderloins….I don’t think that is what made the difference…..as for me, I like the way “I” make chicken parmesan, even if I lightly pan fry my chicken.

I also made the coconut bars out of “Fat Witch Brownies” cookbook that Kenny brought home from the library.

OMG, they were sickening sweet…..I definitely couldn’t eat one as a BAR, but they are good if you just want a little sweet nibble with your coffee…..yes, I gave it a second chance this morning…..still too sweet.  If you’d like to see that recipe go HERE. Who knows, YOU might like them…..especially if you love coconut and you have a really sweet tooth.

As for good news, I have my window all fixed in my car and my driver’s license reprinted…..now to get a new cell phone…..yup, life is just about back to normal.

My bank sent me forms to dispute the charges that they were able to make on my debit card…..about $450 in about an hour…..all at gas stations.

Made me think, shouldn’t gas stations make you punch in your PIN number when you are using your debit card to get gas?  The police officer said this is where they usually head 1st after stealing someone’s credit/debit cards. Or at least have you punch in your zip code?

My bank sent me an ATM Dialogue that told what stations and what times they were using my card.  I sent that on to the police, so hopefully they will be able to go back and look at the security cameras and maybe piece something together and catch these peeps, before they hit too many other people.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Vegas on a train?

Last night I was totally whipped and went to bed at 8:30……slept like a baby.

Dreamed of being in Vegas,

 

except the entire time I was on a moving train…..weird….

Well, I thought it was weird until I realized that today is Friday, and

after today I’ll be on vacation for a week…..couldn’t come at a better

time.

Can’t wait to get home tonight and try out two new recipes that I hope turn out

fab enough to share with you.

Baked chicken parmesan and coconut bars!

Enough of my pity party, on with the show!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Nothing comes without a price

Man, what a looooong ass day today’s been.

I have to admit, I slept pretty well, all things considered, until about 3am in the morning

….then I woke up and started thinking about anything else that might have been in my purse that got stolen…..Oh yeah, a library book, “Tales from a Yoga Studio”….kind of ironic, don’t you think?  I had taken it with me to work, in case we were slow (I was the “late” person on Wednesday).

So much time spent on the phone

with credit card companies, my bank, my insurance agent, faxing documents to the police department, the glass repair company, yada, yada, yada….

I even wore my

t-shirt to work today….to remind myself that just because

that there are still more good people than bad.  I really want to believe that!

So, if you’ve ever read about “law of attraction” it says that you attract what you vibrate (think about)….it’s an energy thing…..so, last night, of course I’m thinking about criminals and bad people and today at work, I swear, some of my patients were ex-cons or meth heads…..seriously!  I’m not saying they were bad people….they were actually quite nice, but again, kind of ironic.

I’ve had several comments on my last blog post and some private e-mails as well…..thanks for everything….really!

As I was making phone calls today, I was trying to make sense out of what happened…..why would someone want to do this to ME?  Then again, why NOT me?

Sometimes we see people and think we want what they have, but would we be willing to give up what they may have given up to have what they have?

You see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and you see the homes and the trips and the kids, but would you be willing to give up so much of your privacy to have that life?

You see Jennifer Aniston and her rockin’ bod, but do you want to pass up those margaritas with your friends? Be longing for a husband and a baby? (or at least that’s what I read)

I don’t know….

I guess someone saw me getting out of my Chrysler 300 and going into a yoga studio…..what went through their mind? 

She’s got plenty of money, she won’t miss it.

What they didn’t see was the girl who worked part time and went through nuclear medicine school full time and lived on Ramen noodles for a year while she was 1000 miles from home

the girl who bought her yoga classes with a Groupon,

the girl who is still driving the same car that she bought in August of 2004.

Nothing comes without a price……

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Man oh Man

I got to the tai chi class last night and it had been canceled, so I drove back home and then went back later for a Power Yoga class……..one and a half hours later, I was dripping with sweat…..

A few times I got cramps in my legs and had to ease off into child’s pose

The entire class went up into headstands…..well, the entire class but me….

I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to do a headstand, but now I’m going to start practicing

on how to get there.

Honestly, by the time we got to the headstand portion my arms and shoulders were so

fatigued from doing so many “flows”…..we must have done 500!

I went back again tonight for a “gentle vinyasa” class…..yes, tonight I needed someone to be gentle with me because my shoulders, arms and hips were screaming at me most of the day.

On the way there, there was a little snow coming from the sky and it was so nice and peaceful…..but COLD!

So nice to get into the yoga studio and stretch and breathe into those tight and sore places from last nights class.

However, that is when my peacefulness ended….I came out to my car to put my yoga mat in my trunk and realized that my purse was no longer in my trunk!  As I went around to the driver’s side of my car……my window was busted out…..someone must have seen me putting my purse in the trunk when I was going into class…..glass is everywhere.

 

(this pic is from the web…..take that amount of glass and multiply it by 100…that’s what the inside of my car looked like)

A classmate I didn’t know offered to drive me home….I filed a police report, called all of my credit cards and then had Kenny take me back to get my car.  He took a broom with him, to sweep all of the glass out of my car seat and drove my car home for me……..

let’s hope tomorrow is better…..

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Something new….

….headed out to my first Tai Chi class…..

I’ll let you know how it goes….

Monday, November 14, 2011

Blank canvas….

 

….or black canvas?

So what’s up with this?

Stay tuned and you’ll find out soon!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Fall, glorious fall

Today was one of those days where the aroma of fall leaves is like a heady perfume.

The wind tousles your hair and the sun hugs your back.

Yes, you have to look a little harder to find beauty in the garden in autumn, but today beauty seemed to be everywhere.