You Can Call Me Gwen

Tangled Appointments and Dark Dis-appointments

 

I went prepared to my salon appointment on Monday.

Well, sort of.

I had my permission slip from Prince Charming.

I had my plan.

I had my pen.

And I had my pumpkin.

I just didn't have a Zentangle class under my belt.

So... I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's Zentangle class here at Gwen's, because while I was 'processing' under the dryer at the salon, two things happened.

 1. That dark-haired woman returned.

 2. I tangled a little albino pumpkin.

 

 

 

And tommorow morning, I hope to discover more about both of those things .

I'm going to find out how to make Zentangle patterns correctly.

And, since Miss Mary Mack is going to be in the class, I'm going to find why my dark hair didn't make me more approachable.

Because it's been dark for four days now.

 

 

And she hasn't approached me yet.

The Chile-Mobile

 

Prince Charming and I took a little trip to the Land of Enchantment last weekend to surprise his brudder on his 60th birthday.

 

 

 

His brudder was so surprised to run into him (quite literally) in the hotel hallway (seester set him up) that it took him two apologies and at least thirty seconds before he realized he was looking at his own brother.

So.

I guess that all worked out just right!

We had some good times and some good Mexican food while we were in Albuquerque (Sadie's - try it).

And, since Able Baker Dana had asked me to bring home some roasted green chiles for her, we also spent quite a bit of time in the BIG Mexican market near our hotel.

Ohhhhhh!

It was like a party.

Lively music, yummy food, lots of people.

It put me in such a festive mood.

So festive, in fact, that I bought 144 white-corn tortillas and...wait for it...

Sixty pounds of green chiles.

Just because they were there.

And they were fresh.

And it seemed liked a holiday sort of thing to do.

The chiles come in big burlap sacks - thirty pounds to a sack.

A sack for Able Baker Dana, and a sack for moi.

And after we bought them, we took them out to the parking lot to The Roaster.

And The Roaster dumped them, one sack at a time, into the roaster...

 
 

 

...making sure he got every last one of them.

 

 

 

Then he went 'round to the back of the roaster, turned on the gas, and fired that baby up.

 

 

 

We all watched...

 

 

...as the chili skins quickly became charred.

 

 

 

It made some of us very happy to be outside in the absolutely perfect weather, surrounded by family, and smelling the wonderful aroma of roasted chiles.

 

 

Well, our beautiful little great-nephew didn't actually say that's why he was so happy, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

In just a few minutes, the chiles are ready to come off the roaster and into the plastic bag to "sweat" so they can be easily peeled.

 

 

 

I wish you could inhale in front of your computer screen right now and actually smell these beauties. (I also wish you could have been here when we returned home exhausted Sunday evening and had to peel and prep our thirty pounds for the freezer.)

 

 

But let me tell you the 'rest of the story'.

We forgot to pack our coolers before leaving Oklahoma, so we bought some inexpensive styrofoam chests (and doubled them up) to tote our chiles home in.

The Prince's seester and brudder-in-law, who were driving their own car,  said they could actually smell the chiles when they were behind us on the road.

I thought it might just be her imagination.

But when we took the chests out of the Prince's car trunk when we arrived home, we discovered that one of them had sprung a leak.

And, until today, when we actually removed some pieces of his trunk for a more severe scrubbing (which we hope has solved the problem -they're still drying), the royal Prince has been driving the one, the only, the incredible...

Chile-Mobile.

Don't be jealous.

Support Your Local

 

Remember this?

 

 

 

The wallpaper in the dining room is all gone now.

The ceiling has a fresh coat of paint, and I didn't have to put it (all) there.

 

 

 

Monday night, Prince Charming came in on his white charger (he's house-broken) (the charger, I mean) (well, Prince Charming is, too) and rescued my worn-out self.

The previously-papered wall has been mudded, sanded, textured, primed and...

 

 

 

...partially painted with a deeper color (Benjamin Moore's Northampton Putty) than the surrounding walls (Ralph Lauren's Raffia) (which all appear much greener in this photo than they are in reality).

And speaking of the surrounding walls...

I was treated to some of the best customer service ever, while I was buying the paint for those walls.

Marvin at Munger Paints took the Ralph Lauren paint I'd chosen through two tint-dry-discuss procedures to get just the right shade for me.

That was after a very helpful and, I'm afraid, time-consuming conversation about paint in general , and our paint issues in particular.

 

 

 

If you live nearby, Munger's would be a great local business to support.

Also, if you're local, maybe you'd like to come by and offer me your support while I become an expert at installing wainscot and trim sometime next month (when I try it for the first time on the unfinished part of that wall).

Or perhaps you'd like to drop in and help me sand and black-stain that hutch in the picture.

Or you could sheet-rock over that slate wall in the entry way.

Or find the right window treatments.

Or...

Be still.

 

I don't do much sitting still when I'm on my own time.

I have to sit still to study and to eat every day, and during meetings three mornings and one evening a week.

That seems to be more than enough for me.

But, between you and me, I don't think it's enough for some of the shoots.

When Miss Mary Mack came home to visit during her fall break, I was already deep into the living/dining room re-do project, besides being scheduled to go make some money (Beeg Seester has trained me not to say 'work').

Alas, I was also experiencing some nasty back pain, so I was forced to come home and lay on my bed with an ice pack after work Thursday.

I know Miss Mary wasn't happy to see me hurting, but I think she was glad that I was forced to be idle.

She laid down next to me and we talked about a million different things.

One of the most surprising things she said was, "Mom, I miss your dark hair".

"Really?"

"Yes. I think it makes you more approachable."

"Oh, wow, that's very interesting. I'm really sorry honey, Daddy likes me blonde."

Sigh.

"I know".

 

 

I've been giving a lot of thought to her statement though.

And I think I know what the problem really is.

That dark-haired woman was a full-time mom who sat down regularly to have long, meaningful conversations with her shoots.

And that crazy blonde woman never sits still.

Sigh.

I know.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four.

 

I get the feeling I'm behind on this one, but I'd never heard of potato-baker-bags before this week.

One of my co-workers was microwave cooking a potato inside a little cloth bag at lunch on Monday.

Others were asking about it.

Apparently, using these cloth bags to cook a potato in the microwave results in a potato with a texture more like an oven-baked potato.

You don't have to tell me that twice before I want one.

To me, there is no comparison between a microwave "baked" potato and an oven-baked potato.

Thing is, I never get around to actually baking potatoes in the oven anymore, so I just don't get to eat baked potatoes.

 And I miss 'em.

So I came home from work Monday night and figured up the how-to for one of these bags.

And Tuesday morning I made one before I went to work.

This is what mine looked like:

 

 

 

You have to use 100% cotton materials and lining.

I used 100% linen (cut from a skirt I snagged for a pittance from Goodwill with the express purpose of re-purposing the fabric).

You can fit up to four medium size potatoes in the pouch. 

 

 

You just wash the potatoes, wrap them in a paper towel, and cook them in the microwave - without piercing the skins.

I'd love to give you a first-hand testimonial about how great the potatoes are when they are cooked this way, but one of my co-workers bought this bag from me before I had a chance to try it out.

I've been asked to make many more for people to purchase for Christmas giving.

 

 

I hope someone buys one for me.

Life in the Outhouse

Sunday.

Out of bread.

Out of milk.

Out of Special K.

Out of fruit.

Out of vegetables.

Out of meat.

Out of Kashi bars.

Out of energy.

I was living in the outhouse.

But, wait!

We weren't out of money.

And we weren't out of love.

And Prince Charming still had his white charger.

 

 

 

I am so glad I married that man.

"Some day you'll look back on this and be glad you did it."

 

That's my working mantra now.

Because something happened.

I was just going to paint the living/dining room walls a different color.

Real slow like, in bite-size pieces, so my chiropractor wouldn't shoot me.

But then I realized the ceiling needed a fresh coat of paint, too.

And when I got to the place where the ceiling meets the papered wall, I realized I really needed to strip off the paper and do something different with that wall.

So I took a corner, ripped off a big piece of paper and, thus, I was committed.

 

 

I should probably be committed.

Now there is sheetrock mud, sandpaper, texture, primer, and wainscot in my future.

And power saws, Gorilla glue, nail guns, and trim paint.

I've been working on this project for three days now and haven't even purchased the wall paint yet.

Although we have had a little fun along the way.

Look at this picture and tell me what you see.

 

 

 

Prince Charming says "Look! It's Woody Woodpecker!"

I say it's a yak.

In reality though, it's...

Work.

She's, like, so grown up now.

 

I'm going to whine.

Right now.

The shoots all have their own full lives now.

Even the Baby Girls.

When they make it home from college, they don't spend all of their time with us.

They go places and do things.

Good places and important things.

Just, well, not with us.

So, although I'm very grateful for the nice time we had "doing lunch"  Friday when she was in town...

 

 

 

...I miss my time in the kitchen with Miss Helping Hands, baking things just because we feel like it.

Whine, whine.

Join the club.

 

That's what I did.

I joined a book club for the first time ever in my whole life on earth (as the shoots like to say).

We had our first meeting Thursday...to discuss titles, listen to book synopses, and to decide what we'll be reading for the next six months.

Can't wait!

 

 

One book a month.

One meeting a month.

And all those different viewpoints every month.

For our first 'assignment', we decided to read a book that none of us has yet read.

We are reading The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant, and my copy is now waiting for me at the library.

Care to get a copy and read along?

You know you're chasing a two year old when...

 

...there is a strong enough earthquake to get the whole city talking, and you don't even feel it.

 

 

Yep.

I was trying to get the Little Man and his gear loaded into the car to go see his Dadda and Mama last Wednesday when a 4.3 earthquake hit our area.

We have tornadoes around here; not earthquakes.

So everyone was talking about it.

But,

I

never

felt

a

thing.

There are good reasons children are given to the young.

Growing a Patch of Pumpkins

I like pumpkins.

I like their shape.

I feel a certain sense of empathy, you might say.

I like their various colors.

I like them in all sizes.

And I like to make pumpkiny things.

I can hardly stand for an October day to pass without making something pumpkiny.

 Today I made pumpkiny favors, just for giving to some of the people I love.

I think I first saw them in a Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Here is a (sort of ) step-by-step.

1. Gather your supplies: orange crepe paper, scissors, floral tape (I really, really appreciate floral tape), some green wire, a skewer or some kind of dowel...

 

 

...and some candy or other small treats.

 

 

 

2. Wrap a bit of the green wire around the skewer to make a curly vine.

 

 

3. Cut some very precise circles from the orange crepe paper.

 

 

 

4. Put a few treats in the center of the circle.

 

 

 

5. Make a taco shape by bringing together two opposite sides of the circle, and then...

 

 

 

...gather up the rest of the outside edge with your fingers, and pinch it together to form the stem.

 

 

 

5. Wrap the floral tape around your stem and...

 

 

 

... include the non-curled end of your vine.

 

 

 

6. Repeat until you have your very own pumpkin patch.

 

 

 

7. Go take a nap.

 

Six Inchie Catch-up

 

Time is passing faster, and faster, and...faster.

Seems I hardly give thanks for, draw up, and note one day's blessings before two or three more days have flown by.

So, here are the inchies I missed posting during the first two (glorious) weeks of my October.

-----

On October 2, I took a short hike at Lake Arcadia with my friend, Patti-is-Fun.

I told you about the giant spider web I got tangled up in, and the gnarly spider which took up residence on my back until Patti-is-Fun prayed/swept him off.

I didn't get a chance to tell you about the beautiful things we saw on the trail.

 

 

Or the chiggers I did not see on the trail... but brought home anyway.

They're still with me.

But ours is not a mutually happy relationship.

-------

On October 3, we were treated to (the first 1/4 of) a slide show of the photos of Creative Genius and Sah's trip to England.

It was  just wonderful to hear about their experience and to see some of the things they enjoyed.

They did a lovely thing.

They took a photograph with each of us in mind (St. Mary's Gate for Miss Mary Mack, St. Paul's Cathedral - with no people in the photo - for me, etc.) and had enlargements made for us.

They apologized for buying "tsotchke-type" souvenirs for us, but I thought each of them was perfectly chosen, as well.

They brought me a coin-bank replica of a Royal Post box.

 

 

 

It's metal.

It's red and black.

And it looks great in my kitchen.

Which is where I soak the interesting postage stamps off my incoming mail so I can save them.

And you know what else?

Those stamps fit perfectly into the coin slot.

I love those two kids.

 -------

On October 6, I picked the remaining basil from my garden (more has already grown!)...

 

 

 

...and my friend,  Able Baker Dana, picked about a third of the (massive amounts of) basil from her garden, and we made six double-batches of pesto.

 

 

Oh my yummygoodness!

The freezer is ready to supply us with good things over the winter.

I can just taste the grilled cheese sandwiches on tomato bread with pesto...

 

 
 Drool.

-------

On October 8, I was blessed to have lunch, and a stroll through Oklahoma Quiltworks, with my friend, Annski.

She's always telling me how this here blog has fired up her passion for all things creative.

But, I'm telling you, she's left me in the dust.

I can't begin to tell you how many things she's been making in the last couple of months, but I can show you the one that came to live with me Friday.

 

 

It's a pincushion.

It's black and white.

With red accents.

It's a very fancy chicken (just like my own Alistair and Ambrose).

It's got some crushed walnut shells in the stuffing to keep my pins and needles nice and sharp.

It's perfect.

 

 

And it was made just for me.

-------

All of the people and places, and blowing-and-going, finally caught up with Prince Charming and me on October 9.

We spent the whole day alone...trying to catch up on our chores, but moving very slowly.

We didn't get very much accomplished.

But, at the end of the day, I was giving thanks just for having him to myself.

 

Oh.

And the ice cream drumsticks we shared, too.

-------

Sunday we spent some time preparing for Little Man's stay with us.

We got the house all sparkly, and the laundry done, and we put a fresh sheet on the crib.

Then I went for a walk.

Remember when I told you about the little warbler who flew into our front window and knocked himself loopy for a few minutes?

I had never seen one before.

But, apparently, they have moved into the neighborhood, and their singing is glorious.

They perch at the tip-top of the trees and just belt out songs that give me chills.

 

 

 

I stopped in the street to watch and listen.

Then I turned my face to the heavens and gave praise to God.

From whom all these blessings flow.

How to Pick a Perfect Pumpkin

 

Every day is a blessing.

But yesterday was extra special.

 

 

We have a beautiful, perfect, precious, brand-new Baby Girl in the family.

She is spending some quality time with her parents for a few days, but we did get to meet her last night.

I held her...

 

...and Prince Charming held her...

 

 

(I told you she was beautiful.)

...and Little Man kissed her.

 

 

And then we brought Little Man home with us to spend the night.

And today, to keep his little heart and mind occupied,  we just drove our little selves, and Blue-Bar-of-Happiness Seester, out to the Pumpkin Patch where my Chicken-Raisin' Seester works part time.

 

 

We had an awful lot of fun with my Seester, her daughter and three granddaughters, Auntie Chickie's daughter and her son and daughter, and, of course, Auntie Chickie.

We had the place all to ourselves after the party group left, and we did some climbing, running and swinging (on the funnest swing ever).

Then we roasted wienies over an open fire, ate lunch, and looked for a good pumpkin or two to take home.

Little Man chose a few that were just his size, and I chose a few that I wanted, and then Auntie Chickie threw in a couple of swans for us.

 

 

At least, that's what she said they were.

They don't swim or make any noise, but they are pretty.

Of course, we're still waiting to bring home...

 

 

...the most precious little punkin of all.

Today is a big day!

 

We are expecting to hear (any moment now!) about the birth of Baby Girl.

The Little Man is strolling with Aunt Mary Mack, and we're all just trying not to jump at every sound.

Because we've been expecting Baby Girl to come during this beautiful pumpkin-y time of year, you can imagine how I just melted last Tuesday when my friend, Carol, brought in this adorable hat she'd crocheted:

 

 

 
 

"Oh!" I said.

"I must have one of those for Baby Girl!"

"They're really easy to make" Carol said. "Do you crochet?"

"I used to" I said.

And then I pitched a battle.

I fought with all my might to resist the temptation to get the pattern, freshen up my skills, and make a pumpkin hat in the 6 days we had remaining until Baby Girl's birth.

"Could I buy one from you?" I said.

Oh, I was  proud.

So proud.

But, alas, the bug had already bitten.

By Thursday night I had a full fledged case of itchy fingers.

I bought some yarn and went to visit my friend Patti-is-Fun for a crochet refresher course.

 

 

 

I came home and made a stack of soft little baby washcloths (I'd show you a picture, but I don't know where they are).

I thought that would work the itch out of my fingers, but, noooooooo...

I had shown the precious hat I'd purchased to two of my friends.

On Saturday I got text messages from both of them saying they'd just finished making their first adorable little pumpkin hats.

And one of those friends said, "I have an extra skein of orange yarn. I'll get you started if you want to stop by."

Great was my fall.

But, I had to do it.

I know of someone else who is having a baby this week, too.

And that was all the excuse I needed.

Do you see this sweet little sleeper that says "Mommy's Little Pumpkin"?

 

 

I'm going to pair it with my own first precious little pumpkin hat...

 

 

...and then I'll give it to Baby Girl.

 

 

 

Because she is most precious of all.

***UPDATE***

While I was writing this post, and Little Man was strolling with Auntie, Baby Girl made her entry into our world. I don't have any details yet, except this one from her daddy: "Beautiful".

 

 

Is it a sign...

 

...of rough economic times?

These are the coins I found during my last walk on the mean streets:

 

 

 

Does it mean folks can't even afford to put in their two cents worth anymore?

Let's tangle!

 

 

Alrighty, kids, I'm finally getting back to youse guys about the wonderful world of Zentangles...and I'm pretty doggone excited about it.

Gwen is hosting a workshop, right here at home in beautiful Oklahoma City, where you can learn to Zentangle from the one and only Miss B!

She is a certified Zentangle teacher...

 

 

...and a very nice person.

Zentangle is an art form anyone can learn.

I promise.

The creators of the Zentangle system believe "anything is possible...one stroke at a time", and that is certainly true in the case of Zentangling.

Zentangling is done on a three inch square of mold-made, archival-quality paper with a pigment based ink pen.

 

 

The system provides the artist with tangle patterns, but every tangle is unique because the artist chooses which patterns to use and freehand draws the form they will fill.

Here are Gwen's first tangles:

 

  

 

Also, if one is looking, new patterns can be found anywhere, as demonstrated by this page from Miss B's workshop journal:

 

  

 

Zentangling can be used as a journal form...as is the case here, with Miss B's representation of her (fly-fishing) trip to Colorado:

 

 

Although tangling on the three inch tiles is a rewarding activity which both jumpstarts your creativity and gives you a finished art piece with just a small investment of time, you may want to branch out once you learn the basics.

Perhaps you will make a 'nine-tile', like this:

 

 
 

Or maybe you will tangle some wearable art.

Check out these awesome shoes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

...which Miss B tangled for her daughter (lucky girl!).

If you can't get excited about nine-tiles or fab footwear, perhaps you could tangle a serving tray, like this one done by the Zentangle certification class (which Miss B won in a drawing):

 

 

Or perhaps you'd like to add a little tangling to your personal journal like Miss B did here:

 

  

 

Zentangling...

...turns on right-brain creativity.

...is portable - it's easy to do while you are 'waiting'.

...provides a sense of accomplishment - you will have a finished piece of art in just 15-30 minutes.

...is calming - it helps you focus on the present.

...is fun to do!

Want to learn?

Here are the workshop details:

     Zentangle Workshop

    Saturday - October 30, 2010

    9:30 - 12:00

    Class Fee is $30.00 (includes instruction, 5 tiles, Micron pen,     pencil, copies of class patterns)

    Class fee is due by Saturday, October 23, and will hold your spot in the workshop.

    Official Zentangle kits...

 

    and/or extra tiles will be available for purchase at the workshop.

    Class will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.  

Please email me @ [email protected] to register for the workshop or to ask for more information.

 I hope you'll join us! 

"To buy, or not to buy: that is the question."

I was browsing through Amy Karol's book, 'Bend the Rules with Fabric', late Sunday night and decided I just had to play around with free-motion sewing (drawing with the sewing machine!) again Monday.

It's an awful lot of free-wheelin' fun, and I can see that I'd better not let my mind go free or I will lose many hours to this kind of play.

As it is, I used one of her example 'drawings' and made myself a whimsical, one-of-a-kind key chain wallet.

I call it "To buy...

 

 

...or not to buy."

 

 

It holds all the things I need for a quick trip.

 

 

And, hey, if there's cash inside...

 

 

...is there still a question? 

Really Simple College Door Decs (Not)

 

 

Hey kids!

It's October - one of my favorite months in Oklahoma - and I'm very happy about that.

I'm also very happy that my first inchie for October includes a pumpkin.

 

 

Friday was a busy day.

It included my D'Art group meeting, lunch on the patio at our favorite Mexican restaurant with Me Darlin' Mither, Prince Charming, Beeg Seester and Bro, and giving Me Darlin' MIther an impromptu hair-cut because I just wasn't able to do her weekly styling without doing so.

Then Miss Helping Hands came home for the night, and we spent a good part of the evening designing and working on fall door decs for her dorm residents.

This year she has 45 girls, so we tried hard to keep the design simple.

Here's what we did.

We got out the 25 big, black shipping tags I've had in my stash forever, and we made 20 more just like them out of black card stock.

We stamped 45 pumpkins on old manila file folders (see...you really do need to keep everything!), and...

 

 

... watched a really boring movie with one of our 'adopted' daughters while we cut them all out.

 

 

We punched some 1/2" circles out of orange card stock, punched a hole in the center using a standard hole punch, and then glued them over the original grey reinforcements on the tags.

 

 

We tore some black and cream decorative paper scraps into strips.

 

 

And we tore some old manila file folders into strips.

 

 

 

We coated the back of a decorative strip with glue (stick), adhered it to one edge of the tag...

 

 

...and then turned the tag over and trimmed off the excess.

 

 
 

We glued on our pumpkin...

 

 

...and adhered a strip of manila file folder the same way we did the decorative strip, trimming after gluing.

 

 

 

Then we added another scrap of decorative paper to the top corner and trimmed it because, remember, we're trying to keep it simple.

 

 

Ahahahahaa! 

Now, the reason we added that strip of manila folder is because we needed a place to put the name of the resident.

And, again, because we're keeping it simple, we used some of my favorite alphabet stamps and some black ink to stamp each and every individual letter of each and every one of the 45 names on the roster.

 

 

Also, in the name of simplicity, we applied some Crystal Lacquer to one random letter of each name to give it a 3D effect.

Which meant each tag had to be carefully laid out to dry...

 

 

 

...on my studio floor.

Did I mention that somewhere along the way it became Saturday afternoon?

We did pretty well using what we had on hand, but right about here we had to make a trip to the store for some ribbon to complete the project.

We cut nine inches of wide ribbon and seven inches of narrow ribbon for each tag, and Miss Helping Hands patiently started tying them on.

 

 

Now, I won't go into details about what happened at this point, but it involved some whining, some almost-tears, and a few little pats on the head.

By whom, I'm not gonna say.

So we moved the whole operation outdoors and one of us laid on a blanket in the sun to keep from having a breakdown, while the other one of us tied more ribbons.

At last...

 

 

...we had them almost all complete...

 

...and another batch of 'simple door decs' went back to college with Miss Helping Hands.

Yes. We're out of our minds. 

Overachievers Anonymous

 

 

Wow!

I've accomplished so much, and it's only the fourth day of the month.

I've already managed to:

   - Miss three of the birthdays on the family calendar.

   - Hike into a spider web whose owner, apparently, was so big and gnarly looking that when my hiking companion saw said spider crawling up my back, all I heard were her earnest calls on the Lord as she swatted, swatted, swatted at the web and tried to free me (I never saw the spider..but it impressed her nearly out of her socks).

   - Relocate one of the ten pounds I lost during September.

   - Fall asleep while working the Sunday crossword and wake with a start which dumped the contents of my coffee cup onto the carpet.

   - Complete exactly one day of training to run a 5K in November before my chiropractor put the kibosh on my plans.

And.....

   - Get an impressive pair of chapped lips...just like a grade-schooler!

Is this gonna be a great month, or what? 

The Inchie Project 2010 - September

 

September was rich and full.

 

Thank you, God, for such a life as this.

G'bye September, it's been fun.

 

September is over.

And it ended on an awfully nice (couple of) note(s).

On the 29th I took a couple of pieces into the frame shop to have them professionally framed.

 

 

One of them is an awesome old-timey Sunday-school poster which I plan to hang in my studio.

The other is my very first portrait drawing (done in 2002).

I didn't think to take photos before they were behind glass, which tends to glare and make things difficult (especially for a person who has not been doing the homework for her photography class).

I hope I'll be able to get a good shot of them when they come back.

Because I'm pretty darn excited.

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On the 30th I had a fully wonderful day.

After my walk to the chiropractor, seeking a little relief for my kinked neck, I had a nice lunch and visit with my friend, Able Baker Dana.

Then we went to her house and started Phase One of turning her daughter's old bedroom into her very own creative space.

It's always so much easier, and so much more fun, to clean out/sort through/pack up someone elses stuff.

We got a lot done and we're both excited about Phase Two (I think).

Afterward, I came home to a surprise package in the mail from my young friend, who is now in Navy boot camp.

Apparently, before he left for boot camp, he went to a paint-your-own pottery place with a friend and  painted something just for me.

 

 

Isn't that sweeeet?!

This is what my 'adopted kids' call me.

 

 

And now it's been set in stone.

Happy October, Dear Readers!

 

October is for:

- Pumpkins

- Colorful Leaves

- Walking

- Hiking

- Chile, Soup, and Stew

- Sewing and Drawing and Crafting and Painting and...

Enjoy it!