Which Way Are You Goin’ Jim Croce

Which Way Are You Goin’

Which way are you going, which side will you be on
Will you stand and watch while, all the seeds of hate are sown
Will you stand with those who say, let his will be done


One hand on the bible
One hand on the gun
One hand on the bible
One hand on the gun

Which way are you looking, is it hard to see
Do you say whats wrong for him, is not wrong for me
You walk the streets, righteousness but you refuse to understand

You say you love the baby
Then you crucify the man
You say you love the baby
Then you crucify the man

Everyday, things are changing, words once honored turned to lies
People wondering, can you blame them
Its to far to run, and to late to hide
Now you turn your back on, all the things that you used to preach
Now its let him live in freedom, if he lives like me
Well you light has changed, confusion rains, what have you become

All your olive branches turned to spears
When your flowers turned to guns
Your olive branches turned to spears
When your flowers turned to guns

Art is Where you Find It

I can see art and beauty in a lot of things but one thing I see everyday eluded my ideas about art... until now!!






You can find the link to the artist at: Junior Fritz Jacquet The site is in French.

The lowly toilet paper roll. Can you imagine.

To look through the eyes of a child is to be amazed at everything all over again.

A Laugh a Minute

EMail can be the most annoying invention, a practical way to keep in touch, a business tool or a laugh a minute. I check my mail first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Last night I got a good laugh and felt the need to share it here.



Haven't we all had days just like that.

Long time gone....

Well it has been quite awhile since I have written anything here. Slap me. Life gets in the way of things sometimes and you just have to go with the flow.

Got some great new pics of the grandson. He has been spending quite a bit of time at Grandma's and I just love it. Grandchildren are just so so different from your own. We want great things for our kids but you want ever so much more for your grand kids. They are the best of the best and we want them to have every opportunity to excel in whatever they strive to do.

Logan is only two and a bit but he has a well developed sense of what he wants. He also has strong opinions that he doesn't mind giving us at every opportunity. The new granddaughter will be born somewhere after November 15th and before December 15th. That was the best due date we could get. LOL. Her name is Madison Dawn and I am hoping that she will also have a head of red hair.

My baby girl (27) is also expecting and due in June. Too early to tell what she is going to present us with but I can hardly wait and will gladly accept either or. I just love this grandparent thing.

Logan trying out Madison's saucer in his new costume.

Watching Treehouse and chillin'.

More later. For now I leave you with a quote:

Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said. ~Author Unknown

A New job and a new apartment.

Received this picture in my email a few days ago. Does give one pause for thought.

Well, we are going into our 3rd week of training. I have a really nice little bachelor apartment and I'm loving it. Miss my grandson a lot and the MinPin of course. I'm sharing the landlords cats and dog. LOL. They have 2 Siamese, a tiny Calico and one HUGE pitbull cross. It is nice to have the critters visiting. Keeps me from being too lonesome.

I have always loved Cornwall so it is nice being here all week. I head home on the weekends.

NOTE:  Made it through training.  It was fun and had a great time.  Made it only two days on the floor.  They absolutely micro manage you to death.  Only 5 minutes for a pee break.  At my age it takes 3 minutes to get there 5 to do my business and another 3 to get back.  Sheesh.   Back home I go.

New pics:

Beautiful Columbine from my friends garden in Scotland. They are gorgeous. The following pics are from his garden as well.




Once upon a time I had beautiful gardens but since the arthritis set in a few years back I have had to give it up.

A new quote for today is from Walt Whitman:
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. ~

Reality TV

I am not a big fan of reality TV shows. I do like the music and dance ones usually but only the auditions because they are such a hoot. The actual show parts get a bit boring. X-Factor is the British equivalent of America's Got Talent and has our illustrious Simon Cowell on the panel of judges. While browsing through TV Guide this morning they made a reference to Simon and I always read "Simon" news. I checked out the X-Factor audition on YouTube and it was awesome.

Here is the link for the performance by Danyl Johnson. I would have embedded it but that function was disabled as per request. So go take a listen HERE. You will not be disappointed.

While I was surfing through YouTube (don't you just love it) I came across Susan Boyle's performance and it just gave me shivers. This woman is nothing short of fantastic. You can listen HERE!!

On the other hand dancing is good:


And for a little bit of a change up:



Of course we must have a wee touch of suspense in our morning as well:


Now that I have wasted time I must be off to do something a bit more constructive.

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Found a Job and faery clip art.

Well I finally found a job. Not an exciting job by a long shot but a job nonetheless. Good old Star Tek in Cornwall. Inbound call center for AT & T. But that is okay. I can sit, talk to people and get a pay check. I'm definitely not going to try and commute during the winter though. I will live in Cornwall and come home on my days off. I do so much dog sitting that my husband is quite used to me not being at home anyway. My biggest fear is that no one will let the dogs out or feed and water them properly. Hopefully that won't be the case. Anyway, I start training on Sept. 1st. Good shift... 11 am to 7:30 pm. That would be the perfect shift for me to work all the time. It would be nice if we got a choice.

Found some cute pics which I thought I would share will ya'll.



Today's quote is from Will Rogers:

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Robert Muraine

Ever since I saw the Ikea Commercials with Robert Muraine I have been a big fan. I did see him on So You Think You Can Dance as well. If you have not seen this man dance then you really need to.

Pain and Rain

Two things that I seem to be seeing a lot of these days. Pain and rain. About three weeks ago my back really started to act up and I was finding that I couldn't stand up as long as I used to do. By 3 in the afternoon I was either in my bed or wheelchair. Now it just hurts all the damn time whether I am standing up or not. What a pain... literally. I have managed to lose some of the 65 pounds that I have to lose... a whole 7 pounds. I am using a product called ISOFemme. You can find more info about it HERE. I know that 7 pounds isn't a great deal but it has only been two weeks and I'm not killing myself over this.

I bought this great book "French Women Don't Get Fat". It's not a diet book. It is a great story, with recipes, about a young French girl who came to America as an exchange student. When she went home she was considerably heavier. It is her story of reaching her proper weight and how the mind set of Europeans, French in particular differs. French women don't get fat and she tells you why they don't. It's awesome and I would more than recommend it to anyone, thin or otherwise.



Today's quote is from Luciano Pavarotti, one of the world's great voices:

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." from his book "My Own Story"

Home Again

The above photo is my darling oldest daughter, Diesel the MinPin and Logan my ever so precious grandson.


I'm home again, damn. It was just so peaceful and nice and quite and people free. Home to the cats, dogs, fur, litter boxes, kids, etc, etc, etc.

New Grandson Pics. He is just the most precious little guy. I'm a truly dotting Grandma.

Logan on the lounge with Diesel and Pumpkin the cat looking on.

Logan climbing up the slide in his new pool.

The very best part of my life is the time I spend with Logan. In December he is going to have to share his world with a new little sister. I'm hoping the transition is easy for both of them.

Today's quote is by Will Rogers.

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in."

Rain, Paul Simon, Graceland and Ladysmith Black Mombaza...

and still it rains. After two beautiful days the rain is back in buckets. It has been a constant deluge since about 9 this morning. For me, this is a good thing. I abhor the heat and humidity and love the cool, rainy, breezy weather. Even cold and snowy weather. But heat.. no way.

Since it is a slow day and I haven't anything much to say at all I thought I would post one of my favourite songs. It is from The African Concert in Zimbabwe in 1985. From the Graceland Album by Paul Simon.


The Boy in the Bubble Lyrics

It was a slow day,
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road,
There was a bright light,
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio,
These are the days of miracle and wonder,
This is the long distance call,
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all,
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky,
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby don't cry
Don't cry,

(Pause)

It was a dry wind,
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth,
And the dead sand,
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth,
These are the days of miracle and wonder,
This is the long distance call,
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all o-yeah,
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky,
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby don't cry
Don't cry

(Pause)

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's, every generation throws a hero up the pop charts,
Medicine is magical and magical is art think of
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle,
Lasers in the jungle somewhere,
Staccato signals of constant information,
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby,
These are the days of miracle and wonder,
This is the long distance call,
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all o-yeah,
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky,
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby don't cry
Don't cry don't cry

oooooooooEmmmmmmmmmmm........

These are the days of miracle and wonder. Everyday something new and amazing is created or discovered. This is also the long distance call.... someday we may be the distant planet dying in the corner of the sky... dark and damaged by those who called it home for so long. Nothing lasts forever if it is not taken care of and we, all of us, haven't done a very good job of looking after our own back yards let alone the world. These are the days of miracle and wonder... make them last as long as you can.

I have watched the video a hundred times, easy and love it every time. I became a big fan of Ladysmith Black Mombaza and have several of their tapes as well. Their music is very soothing and relaxing. I think it is the tone of their voices. Even when the songs and music are not slow the rich, deep, tones of their voices kind of lull you into a state of relaxation. They're awesome

I leave you with a piece from one of Paul Simon's songs, Homeless, sung by Paul and Ladysmith.

Strong wind destroy our home
Many dead, tonight it could be you
Strong wind, strong wind
Many dead, tonight it could be you

And we are homeless, homeless
Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake
Homeless, homeless
Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake
Homeless, homeless
Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake

August 1st...

Another beautiful day in rural Martintown. It rained heavily last night. I love the rain. Each time I awoke the sound of the rain lulled my back to sleep in record time. Today the weather was a bit humid but not terribly hot. Lots of sun and a cool breeze. Very nice.

I found a couple of photos that I thought I might share. I really can't say where they came from as they were in emails.

Isn't this the most precious little critter? Just look at that face and those soft, velvety cheeks. Ya just want to hug it don't you.

This is a photo of the Purah Tanah Temple in Bali. It certainly looks like a place I would want to visit and maybe stay at for an extended period of time. I'm very fond of water and this looks awesome to me.

On another note, my Dell Studio 17 has lost it's sound for some reason. It was there and then poof. I hope it is a simple fix because I hate having to send it away to be fixed. I am very lonesome without my computer.

It is time to retire to the boudoir and read for a bit. Today I leave you with a quote from P.J. O'Rourke: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Just visiting... and ranting

I am dog/cat/house/kid sitting for the long weekend. I'm here in beeeeuuuutiful Martintown, Ontario. The weather is good, so far it hasn't rained, shopping is close and I am free, free, free!! Yes!

This afternoon I visited a friend in McQuaig's Corners and then headed on to Cornwall to get cat food at Wally World. (Wal-Mart). Man was it busy. You would've thought that it was the day before Christmas. Line ups, no parking, kids and parents in less than good humour. Sheesh! Needless to say I got my cat food and skeddadled out of there. I did, however meet my neighbours from up Chesterville way while I was in there. Folks you barely see at home you always seem to meet at either Mike Dean's or Wal-Mart.

I spent the better part of today thinking about how badly I need a job of some sort so I can crawl out of debt. Trouble is my back gives me so much trouble that I am a terribly unreliable type of employee. By times I'm an unreliable volunteer. I hate that too especially when other people are depending on me. Over the past couple of years I have learned not to take on anything or make promises to go anywhere. I never know what the day will bring until my feet have hit the floor. After walking around today I am suffering greatly for it now.

I'm thinking that working online would be awesome but how do you actually find those types of jobs? I have searched and researched and come up empty most of the time.

Anyhow.... a couch and a pain killer are calling my name so I shall sign off for now and leave you with a quote from Mother Theresa:

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

New puppy...

Like an idiot I am now the proud Momma of a 4 month old Shih Tzu. Cute as a button she is. Soft and furry and squishy and all wagging tale and wet little tongue. The MinPin, Diesel is adjusting. Poor April just sighed and went to bed. (April is the Jack Russell). Like a proud Mom I have pictures. LOL


We now have 3 dogs and 7 cats. I must be crazy.

Flies and Racism everywhere....

First let me say that I am a HUGE fan of Barack Obama. I have never followed a presidential campaign before in my life but from the first moment I heard Obama speak, I liked him. I like his family too. He is solid, sensible, logical and makes sense. That's a first in any country's politics. I also would like to point out that I don't, in general like men much. Just about every bad thing that has ever happened in the world has been the result of a man or men or a political party composed of men or a religious movement run by men. So, when I say I like Obama and support him that is a huge statement for me.

Personally, I hate flies. Other than as a forensic tool, flies serve no purpose other than to annoy. When Obama caught and killed that stupid fly I was elated. Now who'd a thought that killing a fly could cause controversy. Give me a break. Some people just have too much spare time on their hands and fill it up by causing little stinks all over the place.

At my age I am also well aware of the racism that permeates all facets of our society. If you look hard, actually you don't even have to look too hard, you will find it everywhere. A little comment here, a little comment there, a look, a whispered word. It's there everywhere. Up here where I reside the Muslims/Hindus/Afganistans/Pakistanis/ are on the receiving end usually. Down in the good old US of A it seems that the black folks are still on the receiving end of it. Although I guess it depends where you live who is on the receiving end of racial slurs and slings.

Obama made a comment about an incident between a black and a white man. Well this certainly gave fodder to the papers, politicians etc, etc. From what I read about the incident, both men where a bit on the hot headed side and someone should have banged their heads together and said "cut it out and play nice". People lose their tempers. It is a common occurrence. We say things we don't mean and once their out there it is hard to take 'em back. Like trying to put the toothpaste pack in the tube. Perhaps Obama shouldn't have said anything but, he is human and I'm sure he's not the only one who had that same thought. Lord knows I did. And I'm white.

My thought and question is this: If the man on the porch had been white and policeman black would anyone have said anything??? Just a thought....

I will close with a quote from my friend Murphy: If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

Finally a real keyboard...

that doesn't have any pieces missing. My son brought my old laptop home and now I have a keyboard. Dell says I have to send in the new laptop to have the new keyboard installed so I will be without it for about 8 days. Logan sure did a good job picking off all the keys. LOL

Update on the new dog: changed the name to Diesel since he didn't know his own name anyway. He is a very stubborn little guy and keeps on getting beaten up by the cats. He has made friends with two of them... sort of. I'm afraid the lights are on but nobody's home. May he will grow a few smarts as he gets older.

If anyone out there is interested in a zine swap, there is one going on at my group. You can join in by clicking on the yahoo button on the right hand side. The more the merrier.

Happy weekend all.

“The greatest risk in life is life - it has 100% chance of causing death.” - Unknown

Stewie

We have a new member of the family. His name is Stewie and he is 1 1/2 years old. Stewie is a miniature Pinscher and probably something else but we aren't sure. He is a little darling. The cats have no idea what he is but they are being pretty tolerant so far. Here a few pics of Stewie in bed.

We ended up changing his name to Diesel.  He was with us for about 1 1/2 years.  You really have to be into  MinPins to survive one.  He was just too much for us and he went to a great new forever home with a family who can give him oodles of outdoor time and doesn't mind him bouncing off everything they own.  LOL




Sam and April are not quite sure how close or friendly to get with Stewie. Hopefully they will all become friends soon.


Today's quote is from Groucho Marx. "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

Today

My precious grandson spent 15 minutes last week picking all the keys off of my laptop. I am typing on that laptop with half the keys still missing, correcting many errors as I go. I did order a new keyboard from Dell but it hasn't arrived yet. So if there are errors, oh well.

I started a new group on Yahoo for people who create, or want to create, zines (zeenes as in magazine). I''m hoping it will be an active group with lots of great artwork.

All those little furry things you see all over the key board are furry bits left behind by Murphy who has been helping me all day.

Last week my darling grandson learned all about the joys of playdough. He had a blast.


I leave you with a quote from a show I watched last week, or the week before. It is from Southland. I can't remember who said it. " The next time I decide I want to get married I'm just going to go out, find some girl I don't like, and buy her a house."

New bodies to Bead

Last week I got the new bodies from Monica Magness girlgonethreadwild. They are awesome as all of her work is. She kindly included 3 faces for me. I am always looking for dime sized polymer clay faces. If any of my readers make these, please contact me.

I picked the red one to start first. The materials are so wonderful that I am only going to use bead embroidery on most of them, leaving some of the fabric to show through.


My absolutely adorable grandson spent most of last week with us. He is growing so fast and I hate being away because you miss so much, even in just ten days. One of his favourite meals is spaghetti. Just had to take a picture of course. He went home on Friday and we really missed him over the weekend. It will be two weekends before he comes to stay again. I get to see him during the week though. Grandkids are wonderful!!!!


My wonderful son Serge was also down on Saturday with his significant other. I got to cook a big meal and clean up after the meal. LOL. Aren't Mom's wonderful too! Isn't he just the cutest guy in the world?? Of course I may be a touch prejudiced.


Anyhoohoo... I am off to do dishes and get ready to go and finally get my mop cut. I hate having hair that requires work. If I had a nice looking head I'd just go with a bean shave. Unfortunately I have an ugly head and can't do that so I'll go with the short shaggy look. Just wash, fluff and wear. My kinda hair.

I leave you today with a quote from Forrest Gump: My Mama always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.'"

Well I did it...

I opened an Etsy Shop. I put the three beaded art dolls up there for sale. Putting the Sea Urchin up just about broke my heart but you can't keep everthing and I just got that bag of dolls from threadgirlgonewild so I have lots more to work on. Please take a look at my shop if you get a chance. http://beadsnpaper.etsy.com

I am off to dog sit yet again. Have a wonderful weekend.


“The greatest risk in life is life - it has 100% chance of causing death.” - Unknown

Home Again

I'm home again. For the past 11 days I have been dog sitting away from home. The dogs were awesome. So well trained and the chickens were just as cute as chickens. LOL. The dogs are used to being walked 5 times a day. I am a computer potato that walks to the mail box once a day. By the time I got home yesterday I was into walking. Some days the dogs and I went out 7 times. Rain, sleet, snow, wind, lots of wind, rain, did I mention rain. I lost 5 pounds just from walking because I sure as blazed wasn't dieting.

Today I had to get groceries because my husband and daughter had pretty much eaten their way through the entire house. There was nothing left to chew on but dog and cat food. Spent $208.00 dollars and only bought one package of chicken. We were out of everything.

After the groceries I had to go and visit my adorable grandson and of course bring him home for the rest of the week. I go dog sitting again on Friday for the March break.

Today my package of doll bodies came. Monica Magness at Girl Gone Thread Wild makes the most wonderful dolls to bead on. Visit visit her Etsy Shop and take a look at some of the awesome things she does. Tomorrow I will post pictures of the bodies I got and the one I am going to start working on.

Must go and supervise the little dude.

I leave you with a quote by Will Rogers, " We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

A Little More

I embellished Autumn last night. I think he looks much better and is ready to be sold. I'm having trouble deciding on auctions at ebay or just in my Etsy Shop. Decisions, Decisions.

He looks very nice now. Everytime I held him I thought he was missing something and I was right. Now he is complete.

Once upon a time on an older blog I had I used to add the odd recipe that I really liked. Here is a tried and true banana bread in two versions sort of. LOL

Canadian Nut Bread

2 cups sour milk
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup white flour
2 cups whole wheat or graham flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
Mix all well and place in well greased and floured loaf pan(s) and bake 350F until tested done.

NOTES:
Now when I made this I didn't have any sour milk so I used regular milk and I used peanuts instead of walnuts and added a 1/2 cup of raisins and a generous pinch of both ginger and cinnamon. It was great.

The quote for today:
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know that just to be alive is a grand thing."--Agatha Christie

A New Day

It's a new day and a new doll. Started a red doll last night. She was supposed to be a Valentine's project but I got side tracked. I'm hoping to do some St. Paddy's green Ug Bugs and I'll start ahead of time. I haven't decided on a face for this one yet. Usually I start beading and then something will strike me. Her personality hasn't spoken to me yet.

I also want to put some finishing touches on Autumn. He really needs embellishment. His picture is near the bottom of the page.

It's a cold day in Chesterville. The wind is raw and biting and it is rather overcast. A couple of weeks ago I woke up to the most beautiful frost over everything. This is a picture of the Spirea bush beside the front porch. It was awesome and twinkled like it was loaded with diamonds in the morning sun. Unfortunately it didn't last too long.



I leave you with a verse from one of my favorite songs. A Pirate Looks at Forty by Jimmy Buffett.

Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being, my occupation's
just not around.
I feel like I've drowned,
Gonna head uptown.

This is one of my problems. My occupation is just not around either.

Finished at Last!!!

Well, Gretchen the Sea Urchin is done. I spent two hours last night finishing the beading and another two putting embellishments on her. She turned out beautifully and these photos do not do her justice at all.





Gretchen ended up being quite heavy for a little girl. She is 8 inches tall and about 2.5 inches at her midsection. I used Czech glass beads in varying blues, gold, white AB and clear. Her face was purchased and I can't remember where. She is embellished with crystals, little gold bells, gold streaked blue acrylic flowers and millefiori hearts in white and cobalt. She is very lovely and I'm quite proud of her. Now to decide where to sell her, Etsy or Ebay. Choices, choices, I'm so very bad at choices and no matter witch one I pick it will, of course, be the wrong one.

Today's quote is from Allan K. Chalmers: The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Almost Done!!

I am having the darndest time finishing the Sea Urchin. Just can't seem to settle down to work these days. The car thingy has me upset I guess. Anyway, here is what is done now. All I have left is the tip of her tail and the embellishments. There are thousands of beads in her now and she is quite heavy.

Hopefully the finished Urchin will be shown here soon.

My quote today is about, of all things, procrastination:



Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy. - Wayne Gretsky

Damn Cars

Today is just one of those days. The kind you wish you had just slept through. You know the ones. Start bad... keep going bad and end bad. This one didn't start so bad. How can a day be bad when you are starting it with your grandson. My one bright spot.

Anyhow, to make this all very, very short... the transmission hose blew. Lost all the fluid I put in yesterday and it won't move in any direction of course. Sooooooo tomorrow I get to stay home and phone around for repairs.

I have an online job interview as well tomorrow. Now, to my unfortunate knowledge, most jobs that offer $18.00 bucks per hour to work from home and that want to interview through your yahoo messanger, are perhaps not quite on the up and up. But, we will see. This was a Craigslist job and there seems to be a lot of crappy postings on there lately.

So... damn car.


My quote for the day is a favourite from Buckaroo Bonzai: "No matter where you go, there you are." Ain't it the truth.

More doll stuff

I have been beading on the Sea Urchin. Not too much left to do on the body beading. Then it's just the embellishments and all the fun stuff to bead on. That is the part I like the best.


This is a little UgBug that I just finished. He is on a chiffon cord or he can be worn as a brooch. His face is shabby gold and his body has butterflies on it.




This isn't the greatest picture but it is of Autumn a tall and rather thin beaded art doll. The colours are rust, pale gold, white and a nice green. His face is black polymer clay.

I opened an Etsy shop and will be putting the dolls up there as soon as I'm sure they are finished. I keep adding stuff and they end up weighing a ton.

I'm going back to work on the Sea Urchin. I hope all my readers are having an awesome day.

We are presently in the deep freeze and it is snowing and blowing fiercely outside. I'm staying in with the cats.

Here are six of my eight cats enjoying their second or third nap of the morning on our beds. Only cats can manage to look so comfortable no matter where they are. In the foreground we have Murphy, the big boy. He is twenty pounds of solid muscle. The cat with the bright shining eyes is Mr. Whiskers. He only has three legs because he insisted on sleeping in the middle of the road. Now he stays clear of the road. Sleeping upside down next to him is Max the psycho. So called because he takes off in all directions at top speed for no apparent reason and you never know whether he is going to love you or take a chunk out. On the big green pillow, the other orange cat is Sam. He is the old boy and my personal body guard. Where ever I am, there he is. He is sleeping comfortably with Vegas named after JD Fortune's song Pretty Vegas. At the back is Pumpkin... I know, she isn't orange but my daughter called her Pumpkin anyway. She is totally blind and tears through the house like she can see everything. Missing are Maggie, the little lady, and Cleo the princess.

I leave you with a quote from Terry Teachout: "Life with a cat is in certain ways a one-sided proposition. Cats are not educable; humans are. Moreover, cats know this. If you're not willing to humour them, you might as well stick to dogs."

Valentines and Job Hunting

This is a Brown Bag Valentine Card that I did for a swap. I'm fond of the brown bag card and books. Some of the ones that are being created are totally awesome.

Once upon a time a couple or three years ago I bought a 4 CD set of Victorian Clip Art. A lot of the clip art are greeting cards from long ago. Cards from the yesteryears were beautiful, decorative and awesome creations. A far cry from what is being produced today.




I am job hunting. Bummer. Somehow I thought that by the time I had reached this age I would be retiring not looking for a new job. Thanks to all the government cuts in education my in-school tutoring job has become obsolete. Now that our income is cut by $500.00 a month I have to find some way to make up the difference. I don't think that selling my artwork is going to bring in that much.

An on-line writing job would be good. Blogs that pay? Maybe. A part time job would be perfect that way I can continue to work at the school. I would really hate to give up the school.

How ever I look at it, job hunting at my age is the pits.

I leave you with a quote from Oscar Wilde: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Etsy

Today I set up, well not yet but I got a shop on Etsy. It seems to be the place where more and more crafty and artistic people are selling. I almost have one Ug Bug done and I still have all those ACEOs that I did over the past few years. Hopefully I will be able to sell some of the work I have stashed away.

This is one of my favourite ATCs. It is cardstock, wires and nuts in various sizes. It is quite heavy. I think I have about 20 of them to list.

This is the front of the Sea Urchin that I am working on now. Hopefully she will be done by the end of next week. She will have about 100 hours of work in her when completed and I can't even think of how many beads but she is quite heavy.

Well, break time is over. Back to the beading I go.

I leave you with a quote from Buckaroo Bonzi: "No matter where you go, there you are."