Work In Progress

"Fresh Powder"

Hopefully I will be finished with this one tomorrow, I have a few more touches to do. It reminds me of the old Vintage Ski Posters. Can't you just feel her breathing in the winter air about to exhale all of her tensions?!

I don't ski but I love going up the hill to Lake Tahoe & watching the skiers, getting bundled up, getting a cold rosy face & breathing in that Ponderosa Pine . If we don't drive home the same day, we always stay at the same place which is at the bottom of Heavenly Ski Resort with a room facing the slopes. I don't ski or go to the lodge because I hate the lifts. Whenever I have been coerced "forced" to be in one, the whole time I am in a near panic state. Dangling from wire freaks me out. So yeah I don't like elevators either. I did go hot air ballooning several years ago. Now that is extreme dangling! *heart rate going up thinking about it* Once I was in the basket, floating, comprehending the reality of no hope of survival, floating, completely stripped naked of any control what-so-ever, floating, the terror so bad it was hard to stand, gently turned into a what the heck attitude, floating, today is a beautiful day to go if I have to, floating, and I kind of relaxed a little, gently floating. However, that doesn't mean I let go of the basket. Oh no. I had to peel my hands off of the basket pole at landing one finger at a time! Not kidding. haha Flying, I have to do, ballooning I don't, so it would be difficult to imagine that I would do it again, but I'm so glad I did.

I took this video while driving home from Lake Tahoe...in living color!...

A BIG SHOUT OUT goes to Terraworks for featuring my art in one of her awesome Etsy Treasuries! Thank you Terraworks!

A Little Alone Time!

My husband left this afternoon and won't be back until Sunday. The Spotted Dogs are playing 2 shows at The Tahoe Biltmore in Lake Tahoe and another at Northstar. Chains were required today but he got up there without having to put them on.
I have the house all to myself! It was great the first few hours doing nothing but watching tv. The next few hours I slowly made a list of all the things I need to do, while watching tv. Then I realized I'm just sitting here still doing nothing just thinking about doing something! It's one of those days.
I felt a little naughty watching tv. We normally don't have the tv on at all during the day. I happen to catch The Bonnie Hunt Show. She's such a doll, so sweet and so funny! I hope her show will continue. So many good shows are being canceled lately. What's up with that?

Am I A Hooker? Yes & No Way!

Friday night I suggested to the Swell Sister knit/crochet group that we needed a new name besides boring "knit/crochet group". Something fun. Like Needlebugs, Yarnies, etc... Then Terry hollers out " The Hookers!" It was so funny, everyone was laughing and I think everyone agreed we would be "The Hookers".

Yesterday, after my post, my husband found out that he would have to drive alone all the way to North Shore Lake Tahoe to play a show at the Tahoe Biltmore Hotel & Casino. (He' s in the orange shirt & jeans.)My back was feeling better, I'd just have to sit there and possibly drive home, so I decided to go. I dressed in black jeans, a cute, buttoned up, 3/4 sleeve, very light, white, gray & black leopard print sweater, one of my favorites, it's cold there at night, black Clark sandals. I put a little blush on my cheeks and mascara, I'm a plain Jane, don't ever overdo the makeup and rarely wear shadow. Actually dressed how I would if I were back working in a cubicle on a business casual day. We were 1/2 way to Tahoe when I realized I forgot my rings on the counter after putting on some lotion. I felt naked.

When we got there, there were lots of people at the bar and sitting at tables and filled a lot more when my husband's band began to play. I decided that I would keep myself entertained at the bar playing video $.05 poker rather than sit alone at a table dangerously close to the dance floor. I wasn't going to dance and take a chance on throwing my back out again! So I positioned myself in a spot that I could see the band and my husband could see me. I haven't played video poker much and was trying to figure out what to hold and not hold when I noticed a nice looking man hanging in the doorway. Then from the corner of my eye, I realized that he was possibly staring. (It didn't bother me, kind of used to that, see previous post on subject.) Within moments, he very quickly comes over and sits in the stool right next to me, as if he was in a hurry, there were 2 stools next to me, he could have left one in between us. He sees my coffee, yes I was drinking coffee, he asked the bartender for a coffee, turns to me and smiles, politely I smile back. Then he leans over next to me, into my bubble *uncomfortable*, appearing to watch me play poker, so I say "should I hold the King & the Queen?" He replies "Yes". Then leans even closer to me *uncomfortable*, so I lean away a little and he asks "Do you want to make some money?" Stunned. I look at his hand directed toward me holding a large wad of money, I look back at his smiling face and meekly say "No". He smiles bigger and says "Are you sure you don't want to make some money? I don't think I am that bad looking." Me in disbelief, shook my head, maybe like a bobble head doll I don't know, but as if to say no you aren't bad looking, but all the while I was probably looking like a retard, because the only thing that came out of my mouth was "unt ahh"!! Then tells me, as he looks back toward the door, he doesn't want to be caught in the bar by his brother-in-law and has to go. Takes a big gulp of the coffee, flips through his big wad of money, grabs a bill and pushes a 10 in front of me and bolts out. I was left sitting there thinking What the?!? I have to admit after the shock wore off in a minute or so, when my brain had digested what just happened, I found it a bit flattering and insulting at the same time. His $10 lay on the bar next to me for at least an hour, which was how long it took for me to lose my $2 I had put in the machine. I felt a little dirty *laughing* as I inserted it into my poker machine but I actually played all night on that man's $10!! My luck turned out to be pretty good, however, I can't say the same for the man's! haha

When the night was over my husband asked me to drive the car to the entrance so he could load in equipment. I started up the stairway to go get the car just as a Casino Security Officer was starting down, he smiled, I smiled, and as he past me he said "My girlfriend would love that blouse"! I said "Thank you", then laughed out loud and thought to myself "She can have it! I may not be wearing it again!"And perhaps a leopard print is not the best thing to wear in a Nevada casino!" LOL What do I have some kind of Hooker mojo now?! LOL

We got home at 4:30 this morning (over a 2 hour drive) so I slept in until 10:30! I finished my collaborative piece and did nothing else. I collaged a map, painted the poles & birds then covered with beeswax and ironed. Tomorrow is a new week, I'm feeling almost like new and I will be painting like crazy! Here's the before and after of my collaborative piece...