Almost finished

I am working on my alphabet cards. I have 3 more to do. SH, Y, and V. I have some ideas for those and hope to finish them tonight and mail tomorrow. I will probably make a Q for myself so that I have a full set. I noticed that several others plan to do the same. Here are a few of the cards that have made it to their new homes.

J for Jewelry was drawn from my mother-in-laws costume jewelry. She is no longer living and I received the jewelry about a year ago. It is out dated but some that you no longer see. This one went to Pennsylvaia, USA

W for waffle which went to my friend Sue in Australia (Daschundsanddobs on my link site). I rather enjoy waffles to eat and it was nice to draw them. But made me hungry for them.

T for teeth. That one went to Oklahoma, USA. I have a ceramic mouse that I bought at the Goodwill Store. I loved the buck teeth on it.

I worked for a few days and finished all 17 cards for the Drawspace trade. I will also mail those tomorrow. I won't be the only one mailing tomorrow. Several people in the trade have already finished also. Once we got started on that walk down memory lane, it was hard to slow down. They just seemed to "happen" quickly.

Not Late This Time

I decided not to wait until the last minute to slide in with my hunt items. So I got busy and did 12. Also completed the 2 challenges by doing items in small boxes and all in ink.

Late Scavenger

A new scavenger hunt started today. I just barely squeaked thru with a few items for the last one. I seem to do that just about every time now. I need to get back in the habit of drawing something from life every day. I do draw often but not always from life now.

I have been working on art cards for a trade on Drawspace. It is called Childhood. After doing all the Memory cards for the Wetcanvas trade, I didn't want to do the same thing. So this time I am doing cartoon characters I watched as a child. It has been fun and like the memory trade, I have had a nice visit with old friends.

Here are more of my Alphabet trade cards. U for Uncle Sam, D for Duck, S for Second Season, and W for Waffle.

More surgery

Hubby is having carpal tunnel surgery on his other hand tomorrow (uh today). We have to be there at 7:45. That's an indecent hour. He says we have to get up at 5:30. I usually go to bed at 4. That would be 1 1/2 hrs sleep. I guess I should go to bed to toss and turn and finally get to sleep about 4.

Oops

Another of my Alphabet cards has arrived. This time in Thailand. It is a picture of my cockatiel Bozo standing behind a smaller cat. It is "O" for Oops. I figure that is the feeling the cat would have if it turned around and saw the huge cockatiel. And Bozo bites hard.

This one was done on some Mi Tienes colored paper and didn't allow me to get the bright colors I'm used to.

I joined another Drawspace ATC trade. It is called Childhood. I didn't want to do the same things as I did for the Memories trade so I had to use my brain and come up with another theme. I picked cartoon characters from my childhood. It is really funny to see how many are still around today. With a younger audience watching them now.

Most of the comics and cartoon characters back during my childhood were more simple looking. More like lives were then. Even the adventures were more simple. No bloody, gory deaths. Some I hadn't thought about in years. But as with the memory cards, I had a great walk down memory lane.

Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Today we finally got our new AT&T UV system. Now I have high speed internet and can watch the U tube videos. Nice. and hubby has new toys for the tv. He has been playing some games on it and said he shouldn't have gotten this tv package. He said he will never leave his easy chair. In fact his rear was numb tonight. Hopefully he will get his fill before he has to go back to work. The second carpal tunnel surgery will be Wednesday.

60 and counting

Today is my 60th birthday. It seems pretty old. I don't really act old or feel too old. But the number seems old. I still feel that so far it's better than dead. But it's starting to be a closer race.

No one ever told me it hurt so much to get old. Aches, pains, slower to get things done, and the funny thing is, you still feel you are working at the same pace. And there are lots of breaks while you work just to sit down and let everything have a nice rest. Then after the chore is done, there is the necessary nap. I call it a nap but it is really like I have passed out from exhaustion.

I have made it my mission in life to inform everyone under 20 yrs that it hurts. They haven't got a clue. They think they are never going to get as beaten down, crippled up, or slow as the "oldies". But I find great satisfaction in letting them know that if it doesn't hurt, you no longer have it. You'd think with all the removals the weight would come down. That new stainless knee I go a little over a year ago must weigh a ton.

Well any way another year down and another to look forward to. And next February I can rub it in to hubby that he will be 60. When I turned 35, my stamina seemed to drop by half. He laughed but the same thing happened to him and it was no longer funny. So far today I'm ok. But I will be facing the day lurking around every corner to make sure I don't lose anything else including what stamina I still have.

Have a great day.

Alphabet Trade "X"

"X" marks the spot. That was my X for the alphabet trade. It was the first thing I thought of and the one thing I kept coming back to. And I am glad I did it as the person who had X is a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean and loved the treasure map.

Bolles Nursery Photos

Here a few photos from Wednesday.

Banana Tree

Our art group went to Bolles Nursery today. This was my third trip there and I still took around 200 photos. There were 7 of us today and we all went for lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Very nice day. Mild weather, plenty to see, and great food.

As I had not done any scavenger hunt items this time around, I used my artwork from today to post in the hunt forum. I used the words "yard art" a little loosely and posted for my #1 and only item this hunt...a banana tree.

Elvis

At the BBQ, I found out a friend's preteen daughter loves Elvis. She wants a drawing of him to hang in her bedroom. So I started this that Sat night after we got home. I haven't touched it since. I need to work on it some more but still haven't any art energy.

I am going with the art group on Wednesday. We are going back to Bolles Nursery. This will be our third trip there. The owner likes us to come and puts out goodies for us. Coffee, water, soda, and donuts. Such a nice kind man.

Some of us will go to the Mexican Restaurant just down the block for lunch. They have really good fish tacos. For many years, the thought of fish in a taco sounded awful. I don't even like fish. Go figure. I finally tried one and liked it. At least at this place I like them. I had one at another place and it was terrible. Really fishy. I prefer the breaded ones to the bare ones. Thankfully they are small and come with just a touch of some kind of slaw. I will pass on the beans and rice this time.

Even when I am in an art slump, I am usually able to do something during our outings. The first time there I did a statue of a young man and woman. The last time I did a cactus. I hope something catches my attention this time. It will have to be in the shade. The weatherman said we may be in for a few days of triple digits already. I guess summer is here.

WDE

I uploaded my 16 photos to the Weekly Drawing Event on Wetcanvas. I decided to post them early because Europe and Australia miss a whole day when they are posted on Friday by American time.

No new artwork. I'm kind of in a slump for some reason. We had a family emergency the first part of the week which has settled down now. I spent part of the day shredding junk mail and papers attached by the pharmacy to every prescription we get. Now I have to black out our address and information on the empty pill bottles. I wish I could be more organized and do it as they empty but that isn't happening. Now I have a paper sack and a shoebox full.

This evening I moved furniture around and tried to get a better arrangement in my office/art room. I have way too much furniture in that room but part of it is must have storage. Next I will go thru that huge storage cabinet and go thru all and hopefully get rid of some junk. The way it is arranged right now, I'm not sure it will be ok as I am horribly claustrophobic. I can't have too much wrapping around behind me.

Well maybe tomorrow I will get to some artwork. But I have said that for several days now, and I have the WDE to host this week. I will need to keep up on the comments and not get too far behind.

Alphabet Project ATCs

I mailed 7 ATCs for the Alphabet Project today. I had an eighth one ready but it needs a mate to go with it. One of my Memories cards didn't make it and I will be making a replacement one and mailing both cards together. Saving postage. Since postage is soon to go up, I am trying to mail as many as I can before that.

I had my monthly hair appointment today, so hubby went along. While I was at the salon, he shopped at the market in the same area. Then had his pickup truck washed. We went to have a Subway sandwich which was soooooooo good (mine was turkey breast with avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, mild yellow peppers, and pickles with mayo and mustard). The subs were a pretty healthy choice considering what else is out there that we could have had. Then to Trader Joes for some frozen salmon and other fish. Hubby likes fish (I don't) and we are supposed to be eating healthy so he can lose weight to make it easier for his heart to work. And of course, I need to take off quite a lot of pounds too. I'm sure my bad foot and leg would thank me.

Well time to finish up dinner prep, finish loading the dishwasher, and then maybe some art time. I haven't been taking any time for it. At the salon, I did sketch out a hamster face (ATC size) that I found on a Flicker site by pyza. She has tons of cute hamster photos of her pets past and present. She gave me permission to use her photos and I thank her very much. Have a peek at her cutie hamster photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmurka/.

More Photos

BBQ Photos

Alphabet Project

There is a new project on Wetcanvas based around the alphabet. We need 3 more people to fill the alphabet. Anyone interested? It is original ATC cards 2.5 x 3.5 size and you do something for every letter of the alphabet and send one to each participant. Loads of fun. Good practice in size restraint and mind stimulating activity. You can read about the project here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/P...s&proj_id=1239.

Landscape

I really enjoyed the outing today. There were 8 of us there doing art. Half were outside and half were inside. It was pretty cold outside so I did my picture fairly fast. I intended to do another but didn't. I spent the rest of the time going inside to get warm.

At 11:30 everyone stopped working and we had lunch and a critique. By noon we were on our way home. I only took about 15 photos this time.

This was the view along the back wall of the yard. There were 5 of the palm trees in this area and much more on each side of what I did. There were several waterless fountains among the flowers and greenery. Very pretty Iris's. Yellow and purple ones.

Plein Air

Tomorrow is plein air day with my art group. We are going to a private home. I haven't been there yet but our group has. I Googled the address and saw a photo of the front of the house. It has a 3-car garage and looks very big. From the satellite view, I didn't see a pool but I figure it will have a very nice landscaped yard. I was told that the owner has a large studio with many, many windows, and if we want to sit inside, you can get a good view from there.

Shopping Day

Today we bought groceries. I needed a few things and needed some ingredients for a couple of dishes that I will make for a barbecue we will attend on Saturday. It is a yearly barbecue at a friend's house. It lasts for 3 days but we only go for the Saturday events. Barbecue/Potluck, music, and friendship.

Anywhere from 50-100 people are at the barbecue. Each family provides a dessert and a salad or side dish. Provided by the hosts is the meat, garlic bread, and chili beans. We usually arrive there about 10:00 am and leave anywhere from 9-midnight. It's about 45 minutes from our house up in the mountains. Loads of fun and we get to see people we see only once a year at the barbecues.

Some people come in motorhomes, campters, trailers, and stay for the 3 days. Some even camp in tents. I have seen 15 RVs and tents, etc camped there in the yard.

Now when you are in the company of that much food, you are going to eat. All we will be able to do is damage control. At noon about every kind of potato chip, dip, and other munchies make an appearance. And they get munched until dinnertime about 6 pm. Then there are tables put together with about 20+ casseroles, salads, and other side dishes. Then about an hour later the whole thing disappears and out of nowhere are about 20 desserts. Try to skip dessert with that many tempting delights.

We will eat. But hopefully we can keep from gorging. But if that doesn't happen, Sunday we will dream of all the goodies while we eat something nutritious for breakfast.

Saturday

Today we went to a birthday party/barbecue for a 1 yr old. He was having a great time. Orange frosting on his cake gave him an orange tint on his face and hands. But he didn't care. Like all 1 yr olds, he just dug in to the piece of cake with both hands and stuffed it in his mouth.

Aiden, the birthday boy, is the grandson of my neighbor across the street. We are like their extended family. Since the teens don't have grandparents, they look at us as their subs.

I have never seen so many clothes given to a 1 yr old. There must have been at least 10 bags with just clothes in them. Whole sets. And several sets in each. He will be the best dressed kid in town. I can't see how he will ever wear all of them before he outgrows them. Look out little Delilah (his 8 month old cousin) or you will be wearing his outgrown boy clothes. Delilah was there all pretty in pink. Baby to one of the teens and growing like a weed.

We ate at the barbecue. Now who can not eat at a barbecue? But we ate a smaller portion than our usual would have been. And we shared one piece of cake instead of having our own. That's at least progress.