Paintin' 'Til My Fingers Fall Off

I've been paintin' and paintin' and paintin' some more....but I am finally finished all my painting for the charity auction that benefits Alzheimer's disease!! Yay!! and just in time too...here is what I got done... ...more lady faces...
...plaid and striped apple gourds!

Everything that is headed to the charity auction ☺

Let's hope they sell well!!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a... ☺☻☺☻☺☻☺

Friday Fill-Ins 27

It's Friday...Friday Fill-Ins time!

1. While the cat's away the dogs will go searching for 'em. :-p

2. Sometimes not everything is so fabuloso!

3. Children really need to do real trick or treating...not this trunk or treat business.

4. I immediately let my crazy dog out when I get home from work or shopping or what have you.

5. This may seem odd, but please just indulge me this once.

6. Feels like going a lil crazy...and that seems like a fine idea to me!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxin, busy day and did more paintin', tomorrow my plans include finishing up the auction stuff and Sunday, I want to watch the Pats...Go PATS ♥!

Old Family Photos

While visiting my sister lately, we started rummaging around through old family photos. Came across some real oldies! After scanning a whole bunch in the computer, thought I would share some. They are in no particular order.☺

Vicki and I scootin' along...Kathy was a bun in an oven... My Dad and I...bikini season '82 ☺ Sisters and I, 'dress rehearsal' before a friends wedding.Oldest to youngest, I believe that was Thanksgiving day, of some random year... someone was in her tie phase then...
Hah, Cortney, she wasn't always afraid to get herself dirty...and Kathy was more then willing to help. I think we are in the back of a car? That is the infamous 'bear suit' (Don't ask me why Kathy and I had plastic golf clubs, cuz I have no idea why...but it couldn't of been good.) Legos in VT? Hell yes! Even Dad got in on it.. Our inspiring elder generations...notice ladies, I said elder, not older ☺Nice family Christmas photo........and then the leaf fight began! Way back in 1984 Apparently none of us were ready for that photo yet...Can we have Take #2...? Nice 'Ladies' (I use the term ladies loosely, hehe) "You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friends nose" (or your family for that matter...but luckily I like mine) Woohoo, leaky pipes! That would be me in the orange....really excited, can't you tell? One of our many hiking/camping trips." Who gave that kid a hammer?" -said the kid holding the hammer. (Cort) Easter one year...still have wet hair ☺ Portrait photoZZZzzz...Car rides made us sleepy ☺ Do you like seafood? Dress up! Little girls never tire of this... Not really sure what we were trying to accomplish here... Kathy and I, sitting too close to the TV...way back then, that was ok, right? ☺ This photo just makes me laugh...Kathy says I traumatized her as a child...I say she is just over dramatic...this just proves it :-p
I ♥ my family!

Friday Fill-Ins 26

Today is Friday, time for another Friday fill-ins!!

1. One of my strongest beliefs is that things happen for a reason.

2. Hoping the charity auction turn out is just huge!

3. The sky is cloudy with a threat of rain and wind and cold, so gonna bundle up and sip me some hot tea.

4. The glow of a candle is comforting to me.

5. I always thought I'd be in a completely different place at my age, but things are what they are.

6. I heard bats and then I went outside to look at the full moon.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxin' and getting rid of this evil lil' headache, tomorrow my plans include painting more gourds for the charity auction and Sunday, I want to paint even more, and maybe catch the Patriots game!

Weekend Of Paint

Cortney headed over to our place friday night for a weekend of painting! We literally painted from morning 'til night. Got alot done for the charity auction we are both going to be in, in early November. Had alot of fun! ☺

(Cortney paintin')

(Toby helped, by mostly staying out of the way, and tryin' to catch a certain lil' fly that kept buzzing around the room. Hehehe, that was just entertaining to watch him!)
(...More paintin', notice the pepsi cans, lots of much needed caffeine was consumed.)

This is what I got done so far....everything is painted free-hand...

(Snowmen)

(Scarecrow faces)

(Gourde buckets, LOVED how these turned out, though they took alot of time.)

....everything so far, there's more to paint though! ☺

Have A Look At Them Apples

On your left is the (just huge) honeycrisp apple and on your right is a mcintosh (for comparison). We found these "little" beauties starting to pop up in grocery stores down south. They are only around for 2-3 weeks, and they are delish!! But just enormous, it's almost a whole meal. ☺

From Beginning To End

As I have briefly mentioned before I am trying to gear up and get some gourdes painted for a charity auction in early November. Hoping that goes well, I started painting and have lots to still do. Super excited I was able to sell a couple of them already! Now hoping the auction does even better. This was a gourde scarecrow face in the making:

What I have to start with after all the mold and nastiness is scrubbed off:

Getting the base colors on:

Now to start the face:

There he is, all done!

It's FALL

It's officially Fall!! Okay, is has been for a few days now...but I'm just getting around to my blog. I'm not very consistent with it lately, but I am trying to be better about it. We are getting all geared up for the much awaited cooler weather. Though I have to admit, I've felt like I have been freezing lately with highs of 60 degrees during the day, hehe. You really do get adjusted to the weather down here and the heat (helps having lots of a/c). By far, October has to be, always has been, and always will be, my favorite month out of the entire year. Despite all my ups and downs in life (mostly downs lately) thinking of fall can still cheer me up.

Now is the time for: apple picking, crunchy leaves, pumpkins, the smell of crisp cold air, foliage, apple crisp, hooded sweatshirts, fleecy pj pants, acorns, warm fuzzy socks, hot cocoa, and sitting by the fire. Love it ♥

Now That Is One Unhappy Face

What seemed like it would be one unhappy task, turned out to be just hilarious. My poor kitties Katie and Lily have been dealing with those nasty pests that all animals gotta deal with, fleas. So to try and get rid of the lil buggers we gave them a bath. Needless to say they were not happy about it, but overall they were really well behaved. Despite the constant attempts at escape! My mother and I were laughing so hard we could not see what we were doing. Just watching them try to run in the suds and getting no where fast. Then Abby (one of the lil westies) decided she had to help. Despite constantly trying to spray her in the face to get her out of the tub with the cats. (Which did not deter her in the least). Abby inevitably got a bath herself, cuz ultimately she was drenched by the time the cats were done getting their baths. Guess you really had to be there. But that was a great comic release, and the kitties (and Abby) smelled all perty afterwards! If that didn't get rid of those nasty ol' fleas. I said next I will just shave them nakey and pick off the fleas like a monkey...let's hope it doesn't come to that, hehehe.

(Lily)

...When I Was A Kid

Just a couple weeks ago, a video from youtube.com showed up on my facebook account from my little sister. It was an old clip from Disney channel we must of watched over a dozen times when we were kids. As I danced in my chair to the familiar music, memories from when I was a kid came flooding back and it warmed me to the core.



When my sisters and I were kids we didn't have cable. Our grandmother in VT, thinking of us, taped several hours of Disney channel cartoons on VHS tapes. We treasured every one of them, from the holiday specials to the random Mickey Mouse and Goofy cartoons. Cartoons were so much better back then.
I remember waking up early, running out in my pj's. Crawling up onto the counter in the kitchen on my hands and knees to kneel up and reach for my favorite Smurf coffee mug in the cupboard. Only to hop down and quickly fill it up with dry cereal so I could join my sisters with theirs in the living room. We would plop down in front of the TV for Saturday morning cartoons and munch on our sugary cereal. That was our idea of bliss on the weekends. Weekends quickly came to an end and before we knew it, it was Sunday night (bath night). Sat in our jammies with our brushed out wet hair, as we all waited for Tinkerbell to come out from behind Cinderella's castle. We watched Wonderful World of Disney right before we were sent off to bed.
After she sent me that video I started looking for every Disney cartoon I could remember growing up. Gotta love the internet sometimes, though it has its faults, I was miraculously able to find each and every video I could think of. Even some I had forgotten. Memories of this and that and, being a kid with no worries came back to me quickly. I miss those days. Growing up we always heard about how we should cherish every moment, because you grow up fast. "Someday you will miss being a kid." I couldn't wait to grow up, now I find myself one of the 'grown ups' saying those same things to kids nowadays. I can't wait to someday share these same cartoons with my kids.

Friday Fill-Ins 25

Time for another Friday Fill-Ins...

1. Family is the best, especially mine.

2. My sanity keeps seeming to go back and forth.

3. I love a fantastic person. ♥

4. Balsamic vinegar always makes a good meal.

5. I've got the best dog.

6. I'm seriously thinking of being in a charity auction, but I have to be there for an 'artist meet and greet', gahh!: wth!!!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxin', tomorrow my plans include catching up on some stuff and Sunday, I want to WATCH ME SOME FOOTBALL...Go Patriots! ♥

Southern Funny 16

Bubba's 21st Birthday

Bubba had long heard the stories of an amazing family
tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and
great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on
their 21st birthday. On that special day, they'd each
walked across the lake to the bar on the far side for
their first legal drink.

So when Bubba's 21st birthday came around, he and his
pal Jim Bob took a boat out to the middle of the lake,
Bubba stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned! Jim
Bob just barely managed to pull him to safety. Furious
and confused, Bubba went to see his grandmother.

'Grandma, he asked, 'it's my 21st birthday, so why can't
I walk 'cross the lake like my pappy, his father, and
his father before him?

Granny looked deeply into Bubba's troubled eyes and said,
'Because your father, your grandfather and your great
grandfather were born in January, when the lake is frozen,
and you were born in July, you dumbass'.

What's Better Than Banana Bread?

Banana Bread In A Jar!!

Just happened upon this recipe for banana bread and figured I would put some of my mother's numerous collection of pickle jars, to good use. Very simple and they came out great! Not to mention they look super cute.☺

Gettin' Domesticated

Today I tried my hand at making some homemade bread. Besides having two completely different looking loaves it came out tastin' fantastic. Definitely gonna make that again! ☺

....and take two: a week later I tried to make this same bread again. This time allowing the yeast to 'bloom' longer. It was able to rise much more and came out even better, and with less funny shapes. I think I got it down now. ☺